Once Upon a Teashop
by anaer
Summary: In which Jet's a stalker, Sokka's suspicious, and Zuko just wants to make it through the day without murdering anyone. Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Zukka, Jetko.
1. A Beautiful Day in Ba Sing Se

Adrian: So, I was looking through some pictures on deviantArt the other day, and I came upon this brilliant Jetko picture that spawned this whole pseudo-plot in my brain. And even though there's the large chance that this story could end up about Zukka, Jetko still rocks. Oh, and this story completely ignores the fact that Jet was arrested and brainwashed. Actually, this pretty much ignores the actual timeline and rearranges it as I see fit to do. Mainly because I can't remember the actual timeline, and it might not even fit this story. Just consider it AU.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the stupid show. If I did, M. Night Shyamalan would never have gotten his hands on the movie.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

It was a beautiful day in Ba Sing Se. The sun was shining, birds chirping, and people pleasantly bustled back and forth in the busy marketplace. Even the Dai Li were surprisingly cheerful, as no one was thinking about the war on such a wonderful day, so no mysterious kidnapping-brainwashes had to occur. Overall, everyone was in a stupendous mood, content to enjoy one of the rare relaxing days the humongous earth kingdom city had to offer. Everyone except three teenage boys, that was.

The first of these unhappy, ungrateful of the wondrous day young men went by the name of Sokka. The hapless boy was a companion of the Avatar, and had been stuck in this barren, earth-filled city for ages. The fact that he wasn't allowed to talk about the war or was constantly tailed by Dai Li agents or Joo Dee did nothing to help his rapidly deteriorating mood. And then there was the fact that Aang was still constantly moping on about "Appa this" and "Appa that". It was nerve grating, and generally the tawny-skinned water tribesman was a pretty easygoing guy. However, there came a point in life where everyone reached their limit. The sarcasm-meat-boomerang-and-plan guy of the Avatar's little team was quickly approaching that point. Even walking around the bustling marketplace and basking in its happiness and cheer did nothing to uplift his mood.

Of course, it didn't help that he'd just been kicked out of a poetry class because his last line of haiku had had one too many syllables.

"I mean, come on!" he exclaimed to himself. "One syllable. One! They could've been like, 'Hey, Sokka, why don't you give it another try? After all, your other poems have all been amazingly wonderful!' But do they? Nooooo. One slip up! Stupid, inconsiderate, witchy, overbearing…" the dark-skinned boy trailed off into an incomprehensible mumble, continuing to bump into people as he made his way through the crowd. So upset was he that he completely ignored the market stalls lining either side of the street that would've led to his favourite activity: shopping. After all, those girls had been _pretty_. Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe _liked_ pretty things.

"Young man! Hey, young man!" a voice called from a stall selling assorted trinkets and jewellery caught the boy's attention. "Yes, you!" the merchant affirmed when he saw that he had the kid's attention. "Can I interest you in a pretty bauble?" The older man held up a complicated...something that was _beautiful_. But he had promised his sister he wouldn't buy anymore useless, stupid stuff, so it would be best if he made sure this 'bauble' was something useful less Katara decide to drown him or something.

"What's a bauble?" the blue-clad boy asked, meandering over to the money-hungry vendor. Curiosity sparkled in his luminous blue eyes.

"Oh, a bauble is a tremendous thing of...uh...high importance! Very rare in the world, they are. Very good for any pretty ladies you might have," the grey-haired merchant added with a slight wink.

Sokka sighed, running a hand through his bound hair. The only pretty ladies he had were the moon and a deadly warrior who would either kill him over something so girly or love him forever. Could they even be considered his ladies, though? Yue was a spirit now, after all, and Suki had deemed her fellow Kyoshi warriors more important than he was, so... Crossing his arms over his chest, the boomerang guy stared at the bauble forlornly.

"I don't have any ladies..." he muttered, digging his toe into the dirt.

The merchant was suddenly moved with pity for the put-upon young man in front of him. After all, he seemed pretty pathetic standing there looking as if he'd just been betrothed to the princess of the fire nation while the bubbly crowd floated past with not a care in the world. Remembering what it had been like to be that age so many years ago, the salesman knew just what the boy needed to cheer up.

"Aww, don't look so down, kid," he protested, swinging a heavy arm around the lithe teen's shoulders. "You know what will cheer you up? A nice cup of tea. And I know just the place! It's called the Jasmine Dragon, and it's a few streets over from here in the restaurant part of the ring. The owner, Mushi, makes the best cup of tea this side of the world! It's bound to cheer any poor soul. Doesn't seem to have worked for that moody nephew of his, though..." the merchant trailed off, a slightly contemplative look on his face as he stroked his grey beard. "But trust me, boy," he perked up after a few moments, "even if that grouchy schmuck does end up serving you, that tea will cheer you up so much you'll be able to completely ignore that rude attitude. Trust good ol' Aadi on this. I wouldn't steer such a pathetic looking young man wrong." And then the vendor was off, enticing the next unsuspecting victim into his lair of merchandise.

"Hey!" Sokka protested after a second. He'd been so busy contemplating the information that he hadn't realized he'd been insulted. But now he just felt even more put-upon than before. "Well, if the tea's really that good...Ah, what the hell."

And so the boy ambled off into the crowds, heading straight into the heart of the restaurant district to the best tea shop in the entire Earth Kingdom, if not the entire world. The Jasmine Dragon.

The merchant had given Sokka surprisingly good instructions, so he found the place with little problems. Of course, the enticing smell of tea had certainly helped, as well as the stream of people coming from the direction talking about "that wonderful tea!" and "that nice old man Mushi", or—in the case of the younger women—"that waiter is grumpy, but he's hot!", and so here the dark-haired teen found himself seated at a table next to the wall, waiting to be served. Five minutes of fruitless patience made the tribesman almost get up and leave, but the teashop just smelt so pleasant and fruity that he couldn't bring himself to tear himself from the good feelings just yet. He closed his eyes and just flowed where the scents took him, from the top of the Northern Air Temple to the Cave of Two Lovers. He even felt some of the Temple of the Fire Sages thrown in the air. This place brought back such fond memories of near-death experiences. The only thing missing was—

"What can I get—_you_?" the sharp, annoyed, and most of all _familiar_ voice cut into Sokka's musings. Jumping, the water nation teen's bright blue eyes snapped open to come face to face with the shocked gold ones of Zuko.

Zuko. Banished Prince of the Fire Nation. Current teashop assistant going by the name 'Li'. The second of three boys in the city that weren't enjoying this pleasant day. Of course, there was also the fact that there were very few things that could currently make this moody firebender cheer up, and most of those things were either impossible or next to impossible (like seeing his sister get her ass handed to her, or his father deciding that Zuko was the best son ever and should never, _ever_ have been banished and deserved a great big hug! ...Okay, so maybe the hug was pushing it a little, but the point still stands). So considering that depression was the black-haired boy's usual state of mind, it was no surprise to anyone that he wouldn't enjoy such a glorious afternoon.

Of course, Zuko's day plummeted from its usual level of gloom to 'the world is out to get me' gloom (which, admittedly, wasn't that large of a difference) when he came face to face with the boomerang buffoon from the Avatar's gang. While wearing an apron and offering to serve him tea. The exiled prince had every certainty in his mind that if he didn't do something fast, this idiot whose name escaped him at the moment would do something to mess up he and his uncle's precarious refugee status. So, putting his best blasé, indifferent look on his face, the teashop assistant returned to his duty with gritted teeth.

"What type of _tea_ would you like?" the light-skinned teen ground out. He crossed his arms and glared at the currently petrified younger boy.

"Tea?" the somewhat slow tribesman yelped. "Right! Tea!" He picked up his menu and pretended to glance over it for a few moments before he dropped it with a 'thump' and stood up. "Well, you know, there are just so many different types that look so good, I just can't decide! So I guess I'll just be going—!"

Zuko grabbed Sokka's arm before he could make a speedy exit. A fake semi-pleasant look was plastered on the permanent grouch's face. "You'll have the house blend," he growled around the fake smile. "And since you seem to like tea _so much_, I'm sure you'd _love_ to meet my uncle. In the kitchen. _Now_."

A nervous laugh bubbled out of Sokka's throat as he glanced around the medium-sized, completely full shop. About half the customers were watching their little scene, most with either hidden or outright amusement at "Mushi's crazy nephew". There was definitely no escaping, but the blue-clad boy took comfort in the fact that Zuko probably wouldn't kill him when there were so many potential witnesses near, especially the two Dai Li agents hidden in the corner sipping at their tea. He hoped.

The fire nation prince manhandled his pseudo-enemy into the back, where the quaint old teashop owner stood brewing new tea.

"Uncle," he announced himself, giving the brown-haired boy a slight shove once the door had been shut behind him.

Iroh turned around and took in the scene before him. The young water tribesman stood there chewing on his lip and shifting from foot to foot. His pissed-off looking nephew blocked the door, glaring harshly at the unlucky companion of the Avatar.

"Oh, hello, young man!" the former general addressed Sokka cheerfully as he turned back to his pot. "Would you like a cup of tea?" He continued to stir his brew with one hand as he waved his other hand through the steam to relish the smell of perfectly prepared hot tea.

Sokka opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by an annoyed response.

"Does he want a cup of—? Uncle! Don't you know who this is?" Zuko couldn't say he was shocked at Iroh's response. After all, he'd been travelling with his eccentric relative for over three years. Some things you just learned to accept at face value.

That didn't mean the fire prince wasn't fuming at his uncle's seeming indifference, though.

"Oh, yes. That's the nice young man who travels with the Avatar! How have you and your friends been? Especially that nice young lady—Toph, was it? You know, she and I had a really interesting conversation when I offered her some tea once. "

"Yeah, Toph's, uh...good...I guess. But I want to know—!"

"Exactly!" Zuko cut Sokka off again. "He _travels with the Avatar._"

"Nephew," Iroh replied lightly, still intent on fixing his tea, "I'm sure this lovely young man just wants some tea, right?"

"Uh...yeah! Tea! That's all I want. It's not like I'm going to go back to Aang and tell him about this or tell the earth king that _Fire Nation_ have _invaded_ Ba Sing Se! Or anything." Sokka nodded his head as if to emphasize his statement and turned around to meet the glaring face of the exiled prince.

"You're not telling anyone about this!" Zuko hissed, folding his arms. "All we're trying to do is hide out peacefully in Ba Sing Se because my crazy sister is trying to kill me—"

"Your sister _is_ crazy."

"—and not get caught which could, hey, I don't know, get us _killed_! Do we really _look_ like we're out to hurt someone right now? I mean, we're running a _teashop_! A freaking _teashop_! We are serving people _tea_! Do you understand that? Do you think this is all for fun? That one day I decided, 'Hey, Uncle, let's go live in Ba Sing Se for a while and serve tea!' Of course not! And I don't have time to worry about you going around telling people about this between my sister _trying to kill me_, hiding out in the middle of enemy territory, and being _forced_ to deal with—"

"Oi! Li!" A loud, rambunctious voice called from outside of the kitchen.

"—_Him_," the unlucky teen finished forlornly, smacking his forehead.

"Oh, don't worry, nephew." Iroh smiled at his nephew, wiping his hands on his apron as he moved to the door. "I will talk to your friend for you. What was his name again? Jet? Oh, that's right! He's such a helpful young man!" the retired general muttered to himself as he exited.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sokka exclaimed. "Jet? Smooth-talking, hook-sword wielding, wheat-chewing Jet? Freedom fighter, hates the fire nation? _That_ Jet?"

Zuko looked out from under his hand. "Why, you know him?"

The water tribesman scoffed. "Of course I know him, he's my sister's ex. How do _you_ know him?"

"We met on the boat into Ba Sing Se, and, damn it! The guy's _obsessed_. He won't stop stalking me!"

"Yeah, like you're one to talk about obsession or stalking."

"First of all, I had (and still have) a _reason_ for hunting the Avatar. Second of all, it's not like I spied on any of you bathing _naked_ or broke into your campsite to _sniff_ your _clothes_!"

Silence for a second, and then, "...Wait, you _didn't_ do any of those things, right?"

"NO!"

While the two unhappy teens stood in the kitchen talking, the third and final unhappy boy stood out front, trying to wait to see the current object of his affection. Jet would normally have been happy and enjoying such a pleasant day that had been bequeathed upon the earth kingdom, but today wasn't like most other days. For weeks, the poor young Freedom Fighter had been trying to catch the attention of the teashop waiter who he'd met on the boat into the city, but Li just ignored him...or tried to kill him, it really depended on the shorter boy's mood. Even when Mushi had gotten his own teashop and his nephew had moved to the upper ring with his uncle, Jet had still found a way to sneak into the upper ring to stalk/spy on/see Li every day. Today was day fifty-three in his endeavours, and so far, everything was going the same. He stood outside of the teahouse, waiting for the object of his desire to make his way out to try and stop Jet from causing a scene (as he was prone to do—everyday). Instead, though, out came Mushi.

"Good Afternoon, Jet," the old man greeted with a pleasant smile. "It is a pleasure to see you today as every day. However, I must ask that you refrain from shouting out to my nephew whenever you get here. It's bad for business, you know, but if you really need to see Li today, he's in the kitchen with a friend. I could _definitely_ use some help with the dishes."

Jet scratched his head and chewed on the wheat stalk sticking out of his mouth in thought. On one hand, he really didn't feel like washing any dishes. On the other, it was condoned Li-stalking time. Putting on his fakest smile, the teen grinned. "Of course I'll help!" he announced. "You know me. Always willing to help a nice old guy out with his dishes." _For a sweet glimpse of your nephew's ass_, the dark-haired boy tacked on mentally, making his way into the teashop, past the patrons, through the door to the kitchen, and then—

"Hey, L—_Sokka_?" Instead of being greeted by the wonderfully harsh glare of the moody waiter, Jet found himself meeting the not-so-great harsh glare of a very familiar blue-clad watertribesman. Li stood slightly behind him, completely ignoring the both of them as he scrubbed at filth-ridden dishes.

"Wonderful! You know each other already!" Mushi exclaimed, entering behind Jet. Suddenly, the old man was struck with a wonderful idea. A horrible idea. A wonderful, horrible idea. With a sly smile, he continued, "Sokka here is our newest employee. "

"Wait, I'm _what_?" The blue-eyed boy complained. "I never agreed to that! I don't even know how long I'm going to be in the city! I don't even _want_ a job!" As usual, his protests were ignored.

Mostly.

"He doesn't know how long he'll be staying in the city, but he said that he could use the money on his travels."

"I said no such thing!"

"Look," Zuko quietly interrupted with a sigh, turning from his dishwashing, "Don't bother arguing, he'll just ignore you and then force you to do what he wants anyway. How do you think _I_ got stuck working here? Besides, if you're here and we're here, you'll always know what we're doing, now, won't you?"

Sokka frowned, leaning back against the wall next to the sink. "Are you openly inviting me to stalk you? No wonder you've got such a problem with Jet. You're practically asking for it."

Zuko's good eye twitched slightly, and the younger teen suddenly found it in his best interest to shut up lest he ended up fried and served as a snack.

"Sure, I'd definitely love to work here, too!" Jet's loud, boisterous voice cut into Zuko's intimidation.

The Fire Nation boy snapped to attention, focussing back on his uncle and stalker's conversation. He could not have heard what he just thought he'd heard. No way.

"Isn't it wonderful, nephew? Two new, hardworking employees, all in the same day!"

"Uncle!" he cried. "You can't do this to me!"

"Stop talking nonsense, Li, this isn't about you."

As the two relatives continued to argue back and forth, Jet sidled up next to Sokka, smirking down at the younger, shorter water tribesman.

"So…" he began. "How's Katara?"

Sokka punched him.

**TBC…**

Adrian: Wow, I completely forgot about this. I started it a while ago, then got distracted with other things. I'm glad I've finally got around to finishing the first chapter. I can't wait to write more! Although, to be quite frank, I haven't yet figured out what the drama and tension in the story will be. Maybe it'll be a more humourous version of everything that happened? But with Jet involved? You'll just have to wait and see.

Next time in _**Once Upon a Teashop**_:

Jet stalks. Zuko bemoans. Sokka wonders, "What the hell?"

Bye! And REVIEW! :D


	2. One Big, Cosmic Joke

Adrian: Well, here's chapter two! Enjoy! Sorry it took me so long to get to it; I got busy planning the whole thing out. And between planning and homework, well, time just got away from me. So, yeah.

And, wow, reviews much? I'm so surprised. I've never gotten this many reviews on a story in this short of a time period (except my Narnia story, but that was just because people apparently have very strong feelings on Susan and Caspian's relationship…). But Narnia doesn't count because that was when the category was at it's most popular and people were reading stories left and right because the movie had just come out. I'm much more impressed with these fifteen reviews. And in awe.

Thanks, guys, you have made my month!

Disclaimer: I'll own Avatar: The Last Airbender the day M. Night Shyamalan makes a good movie. In other words: never. Also, some of the dialogue is shamelessly ripped from the episode, "Tales of Ba Sing Se". Just so you know. And I know it's straight from it because I watched the scene, like, ten times over just to make sure I had it right. I know, I'm so devoted to canon.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

It was days like this that Sokka wondered when his life had turned into a big, cosmic joke. Actually, scratch that. He knew when it happened. It happened the day Katara was born, all cute big eyes and cool waterbending skills and innate ability to make her older brother look like an idiot. But during some point since he started this journey with Aang (this futile attempt to save the world), the spirits seemed to have started taking delight in torturing him, personally.

Which is how Sokka found himself here. The Jasmine Dragon. Serving tea in an apron, with Zuko (prince of the spirits-damned _Fire Nation_) and Jet (…yeah, that same psycho Jet who tried to destroy a whole village). On the bright side, Iroh was pretty cool now that Sokka had taken the time to get to know him. And he paid well. If Sokka kept this up (and Aang didn't go spending money they didn't have on useless things like _whistles_) Team Avatar would probably have enough money to finish their quest and destroy the Fire Lord. Once they found Appa, of course.

All in all, though, Sokka had to admit that the job wasn't that bad. He'd been working here for all of five days, and it turned out that working in such a city-renowned teashop had great benefits. Namely, eye-candy. Like that girl with the braided pigtails who had come in every day since he started. From the scowl Zuko got on his face whenever the scarred teen noticed her, Sokka assumed she'd been coming in for even longer than his measly five days. So, in that way, life at the Jasmine Dragon was pretty damn good. Even Mr. Moody-Fire-Nation-Price wasn't a problem as he tended to sit in the back room being emo too himself while brewing the tea (turns out he was grateful that Iroh had hired the extra help after all. He only ever needed to deal with people when the place got extremely packed—usually about two hours every day). No, the problem was a certain Freedom Fighter with a penchant for hitting on his favourite baby sister. The wheat-chewing boy had been bugging him for the past week: today, especially. And if there was one thing Jet had in droves, it was clearly stalker-tendencies. Every step the blue-clad teen took, every move he made, Jet was there on his heels. And exiled princey over there had to deal with this almost every day?

Sokka almost felt bad for Zuko. Almost.

"Hey, Sokka," Jet, speaking of the slimy bastard, sidled up next to him.

"Don't talk to me," the water tribe boy ordered, picking the tray with Iroh's freshly-brewed, freshly-poured tea, and turning to deliver it to cute pigtailed girl who was staring at Mr. Emo-pants himself, a love-struck grin spread across her dainty face

"Sure, why not. That girl's been eyeing Li for days, and he's completely oblivious. I think she's going to make her move." The smirk that was plastered on Jet's face clearly read, 'I'm a genius'. Which he so wasn't. Sokka had called it from the first day on the job—not that the stalker would remember.

"Ignoring you," he replied instead of pointing this fact out.

"Yeah, okay," Jet shrugged, his own tray full of tea almost spilling with the movement. "Bet you two gold coins that he completely blows her off."

Sokka snorted, shooting a bemused look at the current object of his ire. "Like hell that'll happen. You're on." Clearly Jet wasn't factoring Iroh into the equation. Sokka rolled his eyes, turning away from his fellow employee to drop the tea off at his table. And now that the lovely young lady there had been served, it was break time. Which also meant time to sit back and win two gold coins, easy as pie. Shooting an eager grin at his nemesis as he passed, the water tribesman meandered over to the sequestered table that the two had claimed as their own during breaks. He plopped himself into the seat against the wall and mentally prepared himself as he watched the girl finish her tea. A few seconds later he was joined by said nemesis, and the other boy seemed perfectly content to stalk Zuko to his heart's content. The two turned to each other, shared a look, and then sat back to watch the fireworks.

Meanwhile, Zuko, Mr. Emo-pants himself, was absolutely positive that his life was a big, cosmic joke. The universe simply took pleasure in taunting him, in creating situations that it knew would cause him pain and agony, be it physical or mental. The spirit world was out to get him and him alone. No one else. Just him, banished prince of the fire nation.

Let it never be said that Zuko was not paranoid. Of course, it's not paranoia if it's true. In this case, though, it definitely _was_ paranoia. Approaching his uncle, he glanced around cautiously to make sure that no one was in earshot (especially Jet, the stalking bastard) before he started.

"One of the customers is on to us," he began. "Don't look now, but there is a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we're fire nation." Iroh raised an eyebrow, turning to glance over his shoulder at this mysterious girl. With a scowl, the teen grabbed the old man's arm. "Didn't I say don't look?"

A sly smile slid over Iroh's face as he replied. "You're right, Zuko. I've seen that girl in here quite a lot. Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you!"

The exiled prince froze, a look of horror slipping over his face. He gaped at his uncle like a button-down shirt that was entirely too small. "W-what?" he finally managed.

"Thank you for the tea!" a peppy voice interrupted, and the dark-haired boy turned to see the pigtailed girl there, holding out the money for the payment. Zuko grabbed the money and turned to put it away before she could see the blush that was beginning to form on his face. "What's your name?" she asked once his back was turned towards her.

Spinning back around, the socially-stunted teenager awkwardly replied, "My name's Li! My uncle and I just moved here."

A soft smile was on her face as she stared at him. "Hi, Li, my name's Jin. Thank you, and…well…I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime."

Zuko stared at her blankly.

"He'd love to!" Iroh interrupted, a giant smile on his face. Who knew that after all those years of living on a ship at sea with absolutely no girl's around, his nephew would turn into quite the lady-killer? Granted, the signs had always been there, what with the young lady Mai, but living with no women changed a boy.

Zuko, meanwhile, continued to stare blankly at Jin.

"Great!" she exclaimed. So what if Li hadn't agreed himself? She had a date! "I'll meet you in front of the shop around sundown," the pigtailed girl concluded, turning to leave. Iroh, still smiling, slung an arm around his taller nephew's shoulders, finally breaking the boy out of his stupor as the scarred young man turned to glare down at him. Of course, the retired general had dealt with that look for years and just ignored it, giving his very favourite relative a pat on the back before turning back to his brew.

Jet, meanwhile, could've laughed…if he didn't cry, that was. Turns out the joke was on him. All the spirits were probably having a grand old time with the fact that he hadn't factored the old man into his equation. He turned to face the water tribe boy who was giving him that cocky smirk.

"Pay up," Sokka chortled. With a scowl, the older boy dug into his pocket and plopped the two coins into his competition's hands.

"This isn't over," Jet growled. There was absolutely no way he was losing to that idiot, not after Sokka had caused him to lose Katara's favor. The girl had left him _stuck to a tree_ and _covered_ in ice. When the rest of his Freedom Fighters had finally managed to get him out, it had been a wonder to all of them that he hadn't caught any type of hypothermia. "How about this: double or nothing. I bet you anything he ends up ruining the date tonight."

Sokka snorted. "Oh, please. If there's one thing I know, it's girls. I made out with the moon spirit once, you know. Oh, Yue…" he trailed off for a second, staring longingly into the distance before snapping back to the conversation. "And my current girlfriend? Kick-ass warrior, let me tell you. But like I was saying, I _know_ girls. That's the type of girl who'll find all Z—_Li's_ weird antics adorable. You're on."

"Fine," the tall boy glared. He stood up and stretched, getting ready to return to work. "We meet out here just before sunset to follow them. How does that sound to you?"

"Perfectly agreeable. But, man, Li's completely right about you. You _are_ a stalker."

"If I'm a stalker, what does that make you for coming with me?" Jet shot back, placing his wheat stalk back between his lips.

Leaning back in his chair and placing his arms behind his head, Sokka regarded his nemesis coolly. "I'm just a man with a heavily invested interest."

"Sure you are," was all the reply he got before the other boy was off helping with closing up the shop for the day. Just as he was about to get up to go help, a dark presence suddenly hovered over him. For a second, a chill went up his spine and Sokka thought it was some dark spirit come to wreak vengeance for an unknown evil. Then he looked up and realized it was just Prince Pouty with his usual penchant for pissy-ness.

"Oh, uh, hey _Li_," he greeted, an unusual glint in his bright blue eyes.

Zuko grunted and grabbed Sokka's arm. "C'mere," he muttered, dragging the younger boy into the back room.

Sokka raised an eyebrow, definitely curious. The other teen kept twitching, and had begun to pace back and forth.

"Um…I, uh…I kind of—you will help me!" the angry prince finally forced out.

A snort came from the water tribesman as he leaned back against the shelf. He glanced around the small room, taking in the washbasin filled with dirty dishes and the tea supplies stacked around the room before finally settling his gaze on the sweating boy, a sight that was strange in itself because firebenders rarely sweated. Their body heat was unreasonable.

"Okay, I'll help you," he finally relented after a moment. "But only because you look so pathetic. Oh, and I've got invested interest in this. See, Jet bet me that you'll end up scaring that girl off on your date tonight—don't look so surprised, it's a small teashop, and you guys were pretty loud. At least your uncle was. But like I was saying, Jet had a bet, so there was no way I could refuse it, you know how relentless he is." Sokka broke off, noticing how hot the room had suddenly become. He glanced at the silently stewing prince.

"You…you guys are betting on me?" Zuko exclaimed. Anger flowed off of him in waves of heat causing the room to suddenly become stiflingly hot.

"What the hell, Zuko? Calm down before you set something on fire! Unless, of course, you _want_ to be arrested by the Dai Li." He paused before adding, "Not that I care, or anything. I mean, go ahead. Get arrested. No skin off my back."

The temperature dropped back to normal and Sokka was met with a look that was singularly not amused, Zuko's only good eye narrowed. "Let it be said that the only reason I'm agreeing to this stupid date is because it'll get Uncle off my back and Jet's an asshole whose face I will beat in _again_ when all this is over. So what do I need to do?"

Sokka paused. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did you say _again_? You mean you've beat Jet up before? Seriously? You gotta tell me, c'mon, dude! From one guy who can't stand him to another.

Huffing, the prince dropped to the floor, stretching his legs out as he gestured for his enemy-turned-coworker to do the same. "Fine. I tell you, you help me, no one else _ever_ hears of this. Got it?"

"Sure, sure," the water tribesman acquiesced, sliding down to sit across from the scarred boy.

"You know how Jet's been stalking me?" Zuko asked, though he continued before Sokka could get a word in edgewise. "Well, it didn't start with the creepy, obsessive, underwear-sniffing type that he's got going on now. It was a few weeks ago, and he saw uncle bend his tea warmer at the station—we had met on the boat to Ba Sing Se, by the way, and he kept trying to get me to join his stupid Freedom Fighters—and started following us around trying to prove we were firebenders. Which we are, but no one else needs to know that. Anyway, one night I guess he got tired of it and publicly accused us of firebending at the old teashop we were working at while some guards happened to be there. He attacked us to try and get us to defend ourselves by firebending, and I, uh," Zuko paused, rubbing the back of his neck as a faint blush crossed the bridge of his nose, "I grabbed one of the guards' dual dao blades and took him on. Almost sliced his head off, too, but the asshole ducked…So, anyways, the Dai Li came and were going to arrest him for 'disturbing the peace', but I…might have felt a little bad? I don't know, it was a stupid moment of insanity, but I told them he was drunk and I'd take him home. Surprisingly they left him alone, and Jet decided I couldn't possibly be firenation if I'd done something that nice. Bastard didn't stop stalking me, though. What?" the prince added, seeing the way Sokka was gaping at him.

"Okay, two things: first of all, you took on Jet, master of the hook sword, with dual dao blades? I thought firebenders didn't lower themselves to things such as weapons. And secondly, did you just say you did something nice?"

Zuko glared at him. "I happen to be a _master_ at dao blades, thank you very much. When you don't live in Fire Nation territory, which I haven't since I was thirteen, it helps if you have other forms of defense. I learned that shortly after I was banished." He fell silent for a moment, and Sokka shot him an indecipherable look before he continued. "And as for Jet, well…temporary insanity, like I said. Besides, the look on his face—it was like kicking a tiger-puppy!" And the look on Sokka's face got even stranger.

"Um, Zuko, I don't know if you didn't get the memo or something, but you're evil; you're supposed to do things like kick tiger-puppies." An extra nod of the water tribe boy's head gave the statement extra emphasis.

The exiled teenager snorted and shot a disbelieving look at the younger male. "I'm not evil. _Azula's_ evil. And for the record, she _does_ do things like kick tiger-puppies and throw rocks into turtle-duck ponds for fun. And besides, Azula's downright friendly compared to my father…" His voice turned slightly bitter during the last bit, and Sokka decided it was officially time for a topic change.

"So!" the tan boy exclaimed, slapping a hand down on his knee. "Girls. Here's what you need to know…"

**TBC…**

Adrian: So here's chapter two! I didn't abandon this; like I said at the top, I merely took time off from writing to plan the story. So now it has plot, and Season 2 will never be the same. There was a lot of Zuko/Sokka interaction, as well as a good bit of Sokka/Jet interaction. And there was definitely no way I could leave out Jin; she was perhaps my favourite part of Season 2. Ah, Zuko. So awkward around girls. Mai was so perfect for you…

Next time in _**Once Upon a Teashop**_:

Jin and Zuko go on a date. Sokka and Jet follow. _That_ can't be good.

Bye, and REVIEW!


	3. Life Sucks

Adrian: Wow, eight reviews in like a week? You people rock. Or maybe me and mah mad story telling skillz just rock. Lol. You people rock. I love you. I want to have your babies. Not really.

And, um, yeah. Random Zutara reference. I hate that pairing, but I just couldn't resist. After all, it does die. Lol.

Disclaimer: Will Devil be a good movie? I rather doubt it. Either way, I don't like that kind of movie, so it doesn't count in my book.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

Zuko sighed as he stepped foot outside of the shop. He had known for quite some time, approximately three years now, that his life sucked. After all, if having your dad decide to burn half your face off for barely any reason at all didn't tell you that, who knew what did. That wasn't even getting into his crazy psycho of a little sister or uncle of questionable sanity (who at least had never tried to kill him, so there was a point in Iroh's favour). Right now, though, this fact was being reinforced in his mind. From the slicked down hairstyle Uncle "Mushi" had forced him into to the fancy clothes Sokka had picked out to the scowl on his face, everything about his look and demeanor screamed out, "I'm going on a date looking like a dork and clearly not happy about it".

Zuko had never been that hard to read.

Glancing around to see if he could spot his two stalkers for the night, the prince almost missed Jin when she came around the corner. In fact, he probably would've missed her entirely had she not announced her presence.

"Hey!" she greeted, a pleasant smile gracing her pleasant face. "Well…look at you! You look so cute!" Zuko's scowled deepened out of pure frustration when the girl reached out and mussed his hair.

"It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair!" he protested weakly. So his hair did look kind of stupid. Still, that gave the girl no right to just come and—fix it. It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or anything. She was _definitely_ not his girlfriend, actually. Fixing his hair was probably just some status thing or something: a "my hair is better than yours". Her hair had probably taken all of ten seconds to pull into that (kind of cute, actually) ponytail.

Zuko detested people who had hair that manageable. There was a reason the royal palace had about twenty hairdressers on hand at any given time. No one understood just how much work it took to get The Firelord or Azula's hairstyle just right. In fact, Zuko doubted that Azula even realized just how challenging doing hair was. There was a reason Iroh still did his nephew's to this day.

The scarred prince was pulled from his musings when his date grabbed his arm. "Come on!" she called. "I know just the place."

He sighed once more, and completely resigned himself to his fate.

Meanwhile, around the corner of the teashop, two dubious-looking faces appeared.

"It's basically like I've won already, so you might as well just give up now," Sokka announced, watching the two walk away. "I mean, he snipes at her and she just giggles. There's no way he's ruining this."

Jet pulled back fully around the corner, placing his wheat stalk into his mouth. "The date just started. He could still do something unforgivable. I mean, he's not the most polite person in the world."

"And clearly she's not the most sensitive person in the world. I mean, she's going on a date with Zu—_Li_," the water-tribe boy corrected himself at the last minute. Jet shot him a strange look as he walked out into the now empty street.

"Why do you keep doing that?" the taller teen asked, more suspicious than curious.

"Doing what?" Sokka replied. He meandered out into the street after his sister's ex-boyfriend and the two began following their designated stalkee.

"You keep going to call Li something else. Some Z-name. _Zu_-something. Why?"

Sokka paused, momentarily taken aback. It had become something of an unspoken agreement that he would keep the banished prince's secret, despite all the bad blood between them. After all, working together for the week or so they had, the young watertribesman had come to realize that Zuko wasn't the mean-hearted, baby-killing, turtleduck burning monster that he had imagined. Sure, the older teen was a tad uncouth, a little rough around the edges, but he'd been living on a ship for three years. Working with him, Sokka had come to realize that his life didn't suck quite as much as he thought it did. No, Zuko's sucked. And that scar had a story behind it, one Sokka didn't know for sure yet, but he'd heard the rumours. So he froze, wondering how to answer the question without giving the prince away. Opening his mouth, he turned to answer.

"Uhh…"

Jet was unimpressed. As the two continued down the barren, stone streets, he folded his arms behind his head and shot him an even stranger look than before. "You're hiding something."

"What?" Sokka laughed nervously. "No! Of course not! It's just, he looks like this one guy we had down in the South Pole. Yeah, that's it. His name was…Zutara! We always used to play…_tag_ out on the icebergs. He would always be it, chasing us around. All the time. Nonstop. And then he got eaten by a tiger-seal, and we were all very sad."

The tall, wheat-chewing boy gave his companion a disbelieving stare. His scathing reply, however, was cut off as they watched their quarry enter a pretty nice looking restaurant. They glanced at each other, shrugged, and then followed.

Meanwhile, 'Li' pretended not to notice the two idiots who had tagged along behind him. As one who was pretty much an expert in the skill of stealth, it was practically embarrassing to see how bad these two were at it—especially because Zuko knew that Jet was better than this. After all, the boy had been stalking him for weeks in a creepy, borderline obsessive kind of way. It was…odd, to say the least, having someone so interested in him. And now it was more than just Jet: it was Jin, too. The girl sat across from him, teacup in hand, staring in a way that was starting to creep him out a tad. He stared down at his food, playing at it in the way his mother had taught him never to do in order to deal with the unnatural silence.

"So," his date began, startling him as she sipped at her tea. "How do you like the city so far?" Jin smiled at him, and Zuko mentally began to freak. He had no idea how to deal with something like this! Why would Uncle do this to him?

"It's okay," he replied disinterestedly, managing to keep a clamp on his emotions.

"What do you like to do for fun?" she tried again, taking another sip.

"Nothing."

The two lapsed into silence once more. Zuko was grateful when the waiter suddenly came up. He was most definitely a welcome distraction.

"Excuse me, sir. Would you and your girlfriend care for dessert?"

…And that was absolutely the wrong thing to say. The prince had tried to keep a lid on his rapidly bubbling over emotions, but that made him snap.

"She is NOT my _girlfriend_!" he shouted, banging his fists on the table. Everyone in the restaurant turned to stare at the temperamental boy, and he turned his head away, continuing to stare into space as the waiter ran off. Jin looked slightly taken aback at his outburst for a second but then seemed to shrug it off and started to pile food into her mouth.

Zuko was panicking, though. This date was not going well at all. He tried to remember what Sokka and Uncle had both told him: _"Always remember to compliment her!"_

"You have…quite an appetite for a girl," he tried, twiddling his thumbs.

Jin paused in her eating. "Um…thanks?"

A couple tables over, Jet snorted. "You might as well pay up now, Sokka," he taunted. "I mean, you've practically lost already."

"I wouldn't quite count him out yet," the younger boy shot back, watching their coworker attempt to blunder his way through the questions his date was asking him about where he came from.

Jet frowned for a second before an unsettling smirk drew around his ever-present wheat stalk. "So, Sokka," he began slyly. The other boy didn't even so much as turn to look at him, but the Freedom Fighter could still feel the glare that had been aimed at him in thought, if not in action. "You never did tell me how Katara's been."

"Making out with Aang a bunch, that's how she's been," came the not-so-happy response from the not-so-happy young man that was currently gripping his chopsticks so hard that they were beginning to crack.

"Yeah, good try," the tall teen replied, his smirk growing wider as he leaned back in his seat. "There's no way Katara's noticed Aang's googly eyes. Especially not after _me_. You want to know what we did that night in my room? I can tell you it was more than kissing." And that smirk was downright perverted now.

Sokka rubbed his face for a second before turning to face his temporary partner, anger glinting in his eyes as he stood up in an attempt to intimidate his sort-of rival. "Jet, I swear to Yue, if you don't shut up _right this instant_, I will boomerang you."

Peering up at his ex-girlfriend's older brother, the Freedom Figher idly wondered if maybe he was pushing one too many buttons. Then he shrugged and decided to screw it. After all, it wasn't like Sokka could really beat him in a fight or anything. Although the way he was staring down was kind of creepy. A different approach was probably best called for, he decided.

"Swear to _Yue_? Who the heck is Yue? Are you making _up_ names now or something?" The way Sokka froze at that informed Jet that that probably hadn't been the best thing to say.

Sokka would have liked to say that he literally saw red at that comment, but it wouldn't have been an accurate statement. No, what the young watertribesman saw was more of a very vivid image of Jet's head on the end of a patented Water Tribe spear. With Zuko cheering on in the background while Toph cackled maniacally, Katara cried, and Aang gave a speech on the evils of violence.

Sokka had always had an overly active imagination.

Either way, what he did at that moment could only be termed in one way: incredibly stupid. With a loud yell, the younger and shorter boy jumped across the table to tackle the person he disliked most in the world.

Zuko was about to attempt juggling in an attempt to please this girl who was smiling at him so charmingly when he heard the yell three tables away. Snapping out of his hormone-induced rage, he turned to see what was going on. A whole new, but much more familiar, kind of rage began to bubble up inside of the banished prince as he watched Sokka tackle Jet.

"Oh Agni, no!" he growled angrily. Part of him wanted to drop his head into his hands and bemoan his fate in life (as he was so prone to doing), but Zuko just couldn't bring himself to look away. It was the most horrible thing he'd ever seen: his first date about to end horribly and chaotically.

…Okay, so it wasn't the most _horrible_ thing he had ever seen, but the prince could definitely not think of too many more things that were worse than this, excluding the major ones (like his dad _burning half his face off_ or his sister _trying to kill him_ on a semi-regular basis). This was definitely more horrible than the time he'd nearly been captured by Zhao breaking Aang out of Pohuai Stronghold. Hell, it was worse than the time those pirates had blown his ship up trying to kill him!

"I thought Sokka was supposed to be helping," he groused to himself as he slipped down in his seat, arms crossed angrily across his chest. Jin glanced at him oddly as she noticed how Zuko had suddenly begun to pout, albeit angrily, but her attention was quickly redrawn to the fight between the two boys, as was Zuko's.

Jet grappled with Sokka, partially mindful of the tables around, but only so much as it took to slam the other boy down on top of one. The Freedom Fighter growled as he suddenly found himself kicked away and being punched at wildly. He dodged all the loose punches his foe threw, only to accidentally trip over the tray the waiter had dropped in his haste to get away from the feuding boys. Jet was only half aware of the litany of words and curses being thrown at him, but he was distinctly aware of Sokka about to hit him again. Not about to let that happen, the older teen grabbed at his opponent once more, only to find himself in a sort-of stand-off that ended when both went flying onto an occupied table, food flying everywhere, but most likely on top of the guests sitting there.

Jet was about to punch Sokka again when he suddenly realized the other boy had stopped, a slightly horrified appearing in his blue eyes. Jet glanced up to see pretty girl from the teashop and froze as well. It took all the courage in his body (which was quite a lot, actually) to turn and glance at the furious gold eyes glaring down at him with all the loathing they could possibly muster in between the food dripping down the face that held them.

"Uh…h-hey, Li," he stammered out. At that moment he'd never been more glad for discovering that Li was, in fact, not a firebender. Otherwise, Jet was sure he would be dead within the next few seconds.

Zuko just continued to glare. Food dripping through his hair, on his clothes, on top of his date, everywhere, all the firebender could bring himself to do was glare.

_In, out. Breathe in, breathe out. Do not set anything on fire. Breathe in, breath out,_ was the mantra on repeat in his head. Idly, the prince noted that it was amazing how no one had noticed the lanterns all flickering in unison with his breathing patterns, but from the look in his eyes it appeared that Sokka had. Giving himself a few more moments to make sure nothing was going to spontaneously combust from anger, the former crown prince of the Fire Nation pushed himself up to tower over his two enemies/stalkers-turned-coworkers.

"I'm leaving," he ground out, food continuing to drip down his forehead. It had managed to make it's way into his collar, actually, and the feeling of noodles down his shirt was most definitely disconcerting. Zuko contined, "Jet, if you follow me home, _I will hurt you."_

Jet gave a slightly nervous laugh as he idly noted his wheat stalk had disappeared from between his lips.

"Sokka," Zuko began before pausing. He closed his mouth then opened it again before shutting it once more. Sokke 'eep'ed. Finally, the scarred young men stomped off angrily, leaving his two antagonists and date sitting there covered in food.

"Well, that went better than I expected," the water tribe boy finally announced.

Meanwhile, Zuko growled to himself as he stormed into the apartment he and his uncle shared.

"How was your night, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked, and the prince didn't even bother to reply as he stormed into his room and slammed the sliding doors shut. That was all the response needed.

**TBC…**

Adrian: So, my main dilemma in writing this chapter was how do I make this not end up at the Firelight Fountain? Because that's how things go in the original version, and I knew that if I did that in this story, it would end in disaster. Zuko's hormones would take over again, he would light the candles, and Jet would find out he can firebend. Or he wouldn't do this, and I would somehow make it seem out of character considering how stupid he acted during this scene in the show. So for simplicities sake, I decided to just avoid it altogether. That presented me with another problem: how do they not go to the Firelight Fountain? It was, after all, Jin's favourite place. She was the one who dragged him there, and her character is exactly the same. His is, too, right now. The only outside influences, other than my change of timeline, are Jet and Sokka. And they were both tagging along. This allowed me to utilize them to make sure that the date ended in disaster before it could progress to a point where everything would blow up before anything serious could happen in the story. After all, they make it so easy. They don't like each other. Jet makes a few comments about Katara that Sokka doesn't appreciate then inadvertently badmouths Yue without knowing what he's doing? Sokka loses his normally coolheadedness and attacks him. It all works out. A win-win situation (or lose-lose, depending on how you look at it).

So, overall, I think it turned out well, if not entirely the way I envisioned it. I just can't write fight scenes, sooooo….yeah. I hope you enjoyed it!

REVIEW!


	4. Not a Happy Camper

Well, here is chapter four, people. Here we start to get an insight into some of Jet's motivations because I realize I have started with Sokka's and sort-of addressed some of Zuko's, but Jet's gotten no love at all. Sokka's also a tad mean in here, but I still find it in character because I think he does have a really mean sense of sarcasm at times, even if it's not fully developed. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Quick question, though: do you prefer really detailed fight scenes, or is what I did the last chapter okay? I'm currently testing them both out, and I haven't decided which I like better. Last chapter's is easier, for sure, but detailed fight scenes are fun to plan out and storyboard, if slightly annoying. So just tell me in a review, please.

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

Jet…was not happy. It was past sundown, and the boy sat in his usual haunt on the roof across the street from the apartment Mushi and Li stayed in, the one that gave him that perfectly clear view into their tiny abode. Watching the scarred younger boy was pleasant and all, but it had been three days since Li had actually spoken an actual word to him, and the last thing he had said had been a not-so-subtle threat. Jet had dealt with the other boy's anger before—several times, in fact, including when Li had saved him from being arrested—but this time seemed worse. It was compounded by the fact that the moody waiter had actually started speaking to _Sokka_ of all people again today (even if just in insults and snide comments), while flat out ignoring every blatant come on, innuendo, or attempt at physical molestation that Jet had attempted.

So now, here he was, resorting back to his old methods. The former Freedom Fighter idly wondered if perhaps Li suspected that he was out here, right now, watching him. After all, every so often, the younger boy would wander past the window and glare out into the distance, generally in Jet's direction. Jet sighed every time he saw those pale gold eyes glance out. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something that drew him continually in Li's direction, something he had noticed from when he had first set eyes on his fellow refugee that day on the boat. It was in the way he carried himself, that's what set him apart from the rest of the bedraggled, downtrodden, and all around defeated emigrants that surrounded them. He was more guarded than the rest of them, and clearly hurt deeper if that scar on his face was anything to go by, but he held himself tall and was clearly unwilling to deal with substandard conditions. Li had pride, and a good deal of it, too, something that Jet found interesting. Something that enticed the older boy and made him want to spend more time with him, much to Li's consternation. Although, Li wasn't too much of a problem.

The problem was with Mushi.

No matter what good thing Li had done for him that night outside the teashop, Jet knew what he had seen. Mushi's tea had gone from lukewarm to steaming, something he would only have been able to do by firebending. For nights, the Freedom Fighter had lay in his bed trying to deny it, but no matter what way he looked about the situation, the old tea maker was a firebender. Li, he wasn't sure about, as there had been no actual evidence against the other boy, but the fact that he was travelling with the old firebender made him completely suspect in Jet's mind. So, after Li had saved him from the Dai Li, there had really been only one way to live with himself. Self-delusion.

Smellerbee and Longshot had noticed the way Jet had blinded himself to his prior knowledge, and while they were slightly concerned about it, both agreed that it was probably better for him in the long run. Jet had come to convince himself of what everyone else had been trying to tell him—what he saw was wrong. It was easy enough to The tea had always been hot. After all, Mushi had only complained about it not being hot _enough_. Maybe he just preferred it scalding. Self-delusion was the only thing keeping Jet's precariously balanced world from completely crumpling down on itself, leaving only a heaping pile of ash in its wake.

Contentedly embracing this new outlook on life had left Jet with time to examine his motivations behind things, and while he had continued to follow the shorter boy around, the reasons behind the stalking had changed completely. There was one thing that Jet was absolutely positive of being true in his new delusion-based universe: a large part of him was attracted to Li. The way the waiter moved, the way he talked down to anyone he did not like (everyone), even the way he angrily shoved Jet out of the way on a regular basis—all his actions had burnt their way deep into Jet's heart…or at least his pants, at any rate.

Jet sighed in contentment as he thought about the way Li looked when he was standing at the sink washing dishes, with his sleeves rolled up and that angry glower plastered across his face daring anyone to come bother him. He was only pulled out of his musings when the familiar feeling of sharp metal made itself aware against his neck.

"Li," he greeted amiably, looking up to see the angry scarred face he had just been fantasizing about.

"What do you think you're doing here?" the younger boy growled, one half of his dual dao set pressing harder against Jet's neck to the point where the Freedom Fighter felt his Adam's apple would get nicked if he were to swallow. The other sword was clasped tightly in a white-knuckled fist, which made him realize that perhaps now was not the best time to antagonize the already pissed-off waiter.

"You're talking to me again, then?" he opted for instead, silently cursing when that only served to irritate Li more. The boy moved slightly, and Jet suddenly panicked and regretted leaving his own blades at home as he was sure that the black-haired boy meant to do some serious damage to his coworker. "Wait, wait, wait!" he exclaimed nervously, backing up slightly. His hand slipped against the edge of the shingles, and he looked behind him to see the rather abrupt drop that would surely result in broken bones should he go over. "Look, Li, I just wanted to apologize!"

"I got that the first fifteen times you tried," Li growled in return, not moving any closer, but also not dropping his weapon. "I would probably be more impressed if you weren't watching me through my bedroom window."

"What can I say?" the cornered teen shot back with a slightly nervous laugh. "You make me want you, baby." The line was said with such a cheesy grin that the object of Jet's unwanted affection merely grimaced as if that line had physically hurt him before smoothly combining his swords and sliding them back into the scabbards. He sighed before taking a seat in front of Jet and staring at him with that perpetual frown that graced his scarred features.

"I don't understand you at all," Li snapped. "First you run around trying to prove that my uncle and I are firebenders—" Jet twitched at this, but decided to let it slide over his head. "—and then you just start straight out stalking me for no good reason when you drop that whole thing, only to start betting with _Sokka_ of all people about my love life, or lack thereof, and then ruin the only date I've ever gone on! And then you try and apologize by being even more of an ass than usual and then sitting outside of my window watching me! What is wrong with you?"

Jet blinked and went to reply. "That was your first date?" he asked. Most of him was completely unsurprised by both the revelation and the fact that his mouth had spoken before his brain could process what was being said.

"Of course that's all you get from that," the shorter boy growled, his gold eyes flashing angrily as he stood up. "You know, Jet, when I first met you, on the boat into Ba Sing Se—I don't know. I thought you were different. Someone who cared about people; someone I could actually be friends with." Jet froze at this. Li barely graced him with more than a line of insults strung together, but now he was actually talking to him. Honestly. Jet didn't know what had brought this on so suddenly, so out of character for the other boy, but he sat up a little straighter as he took in everything the object of his attention was telling him. "For a short time there, I actually liked you," the scarred boy continued, raking his fingers through his short hair as he continued to glare down directly into dark eyes. "Now I realize that you are singularly the second biggest mistake I've made in my life. _Congratulations_, Jet, because I've made a lot of mistakes." The last bit was said bitterly, and the Freedom Fighter was suddenly aware of a sharp stinging in his chest, one that he had really only felt once before when an angry Katara had froze him to a tree, her heart completely broken over the way he had used her and Aang. Guilt.

As Li turned to leave, Jet jumped up, and grabbed his arm. The other boy turned to look back at him through dark gold eyes, and he was suddenly aware that this was much deeper than the waiter's usual little snits. He opened his mouth to apologize, sincerely this time.

"So what was your first biggest mistake?" he asked instead, and cursed himself inwardly when he was met with a disgusted look. He did note, however, how the other refugee idly fingered his scar for a moment before turning away in a huff.

"Just leave, Jet," were the final words that the shaggy-haired boy received before his coworker disappeared into the shadows surrounding the roof he sat on, leaving him completely alone.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Sokka awoke to the wonderful morning sounds of birds chirping, Aang's loud eating, and Toph and Katara in the middle of a bending war. Stretching, he let out a loud yawn, and scratched at the hair that hung down around his head.

"Good morning, everybody!" he called cheerfully as he exited the room he had been given in the house for the duration of their stay in the city a few minutes later fully dressed, shaved, and hair styled.

"Morning, Sokka!" Aang replied cheerfully, waving from where he sat kneeling with a bowl of rice. "Joo Dee already stopped by to deliver our breakfast. We were going to wake you, but then Toph got Katara mad by calling her names again, and, well…" The Avatar gestured to the other side of the room, where destruction ran rampant, the aftereffects of the two girls' morning ritual. Now they sat on opposite sides of the room, glaring angrily each other. Sokka sighed, but then suddenly paused as what Aang said caught up with him.

"Wait—breakfast already came by? How long ago?" he asked dramatically, grabbing his young friend by the arms and shaking him a bit.

"Not too long ago, but—wait, where are you going, Sokka?" the bald monk suddenly cut himself off as the water tribesman suddenly dropped him, running out of the room with cries of 'I'm late!' echoing behind him.

Sokka ran down the winding streets of the city, not stopping until he reached the fancy teashop that, luckily enough, had not yet gotten crowded. He breathed a sigh of relief and then stepped into the shop—only to suddenly find himself completely crushed under the overwhelming tension that had somehow seeped its way into the rather quaint business overnight.

Zuko and Jet were both serving tea, each to one of the two customers there, and the annoying Freedom Fighter kept shooting odd looks at the exiled prince, who seemed to be doing his very best (which was actually extremely good) to ignore him. Sokka sighed and made his way over to the lesser of the two evils at the moment. Zuko ignored him, as well.

"Li," Sokka tried out loud, only to find himself on the receiving end of one of those scalding glares. He just tugged the boy's sleeve and pulled him into the back room. "I—," he began, but was suddenly cut off by the evil prince's wildly gesturing hands as the firebender began to rant.

"What is wrong with the both of you?" he cried. "Is it too much to realize that I just want to be _left alone_? I hate this city! This whole time, its just been Jet, Jet, Jet, following me around nonstop, trying to get me arrested and who knows what and then just doing it for kicks, I don't know. And now it's him and _you_, you stupid little Water Tribe peasant, and if I turn around, one of you is suddenly there, right in my face. Always trying to talk to me or apologize or make some sort of snide comment or creepy innuendo. I had more space on that tiny ship I lived on for three years! And then that's just not enough for either of you, is it? But I guess it's no surprise—you must hate me! After all, I've only been chasing you around trying to capture you for a long, long time, even if I didn't particularly have a choice. And Jet is just an ass who doesn't care about other people's feelings! This whole city is so stupid. We're going to start over, Uncle said. It'll all be great, Uncle said. We're going to hide where Azula won't find us, Uncle said. Knowing my luck, my sister's probably on her way here right now! After all, you showed up, which means the Avatar's somewhere around here, too! What are you even doing in the city?" Zuko ended on a huff, glaring directly into Sokka's blue eyes as he held onto the younger boy's top.

"Um…do you feel better now?" the water tribesman attempted after a few moments.

There was a slight pause before the angry prince muttered a, "Yes," and dropped his enemy, turning away to cross his arms.

Sokka grinned slightly at the other boy's petulant attitude, thinking over the question he was just asked. Whether or not Zuko realized it, it was a pretty loaded question. Although, telling the prince of the Fire Nation that they were in Ba Sing Se to try and get forces to invade the Fire Nation on the one day where all the benders would lose their ability was probably not the best idea, so Sokka went for the other honest option.

"We lost Appa," he said with a shrug. A part of him still protested giving the prince even that much information, but considering how very little standing he had at the moment—branded a traitor and wanted dead or alive—Sokka figured Zuko didn't have that much of a leg to stand on when it came to catching Aang right now. Especially not if he was really interested in staying in the city peacefully, as it had become increasingly obvious that he was. The Fire Nation prince half turned to stare at him out of his bad eye, confusion clearly visible.

"What?" he asked.

"What we're doing in the city. We were in the desert visiting—well, it's not important what we were doing. Toph was the only one around, and some sand benders snuck up on her and kidnapped Appa. We have strong reason to believe he's somewhere in the city, so we're here until we find him."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?" That was offensive. Losing Appa had hit the whole team hard, especially Aang. Although, considering who he was talking to…

"That's the whole reason you're in this city with its thrice-damned walls? Because the Avatar lost his pet bison?" The derision in those words was even more painfully obvious now, especially as the green-clad boy turned to fully face his foe.

"Yeah, kind of like the whole reason you're in this city with it's thrice-damned walls is because your dad _banished_ you and then branded you a _traitor_," Sokka snapped back, although he froze when he saw the sudden hurt on Zuko's scarred face, quickly masked by that permanent anger. "Wait, Zuko—," he tried, but the prince just pushed past him and out into the main shop, getting back to work without another word. Sokka wandered after him a moment later, shame crossing his face when Iroh turned to give him a knowing look.

"Well, at least he's mad at both of us," Jet said out of nowhere, and Sokka looked up to find that the Freedom Fighter had sidled up next to him at some point. "Although, he's at least had some time to cool down from last night with me."

The blue-eyed boy raised an eyebrow at his sister's ex-boyfriend, although it wasn't quite as impressive as when Jet did it himself. "_Last_ _night_?" he asked, and the implication in his tone was not easily missed. Jet almost flushed, but he would not be himself if he didn't know how to flirt relentlessly and make crude jokes, so Sokka's implication meant nothing.

"Yep, last night." The Freedom Fighter suddenly found himself at a loss for words as he tried to formulate what he wanted to say. "Sokka," he began slowly. "I mean…you seem to know him, right? At least better than I do."

It was with a cautious glare that the water tribesman addressed Jet. "Sort of," he replied. "But not really. Although if you're thinking what I'm thinking you are, I'm going to tell you right now, Jet: don't do it. Don't try it. Don't go for it. Don't even think on it any further. I guarantee you it won't work." Because not only was Zuko not nearly the pushover Katara was, he was also Fire Nation. And while Jet seemed to have been fooled on that point up until, Sokka was positive that it would not stay a secret for long.

Jet stayed silent for a few moments, only making a sly comment when Zuko came over and, rather angrily, set two trays in front of them with no words, only pointing at the tables they were supposed to be delivered to. Sokka, picking up the tray to deliver, wondered what exactly it was that had set the moody but quiet prince off.

**TBC…**

So, I hope you enjoyed. We have the Jet's one-sided interest and Sokka's…Sokka-ness. Zuko got in two good rants this chapter, as well, but what exactly was it that set him off? Until next time!

Review! :D


	5. Small Oddities

Wow, um. Sorry about the incredibly long wait, but this little thing called "life" got in the way. I know, so terribly inconsiderate of it, making me do things like "school work" and "summer class registration" and "scholarship applications" and "transfer applications" (okay, honestly, I haven't done the last two like I should've). On the bright side, my team won a college-wide competition with a $1000 prize! :D So now I'm $250 richer because its split four ways, and I have a little extra time to get down to writing (even though I'm behind in one of my classes and my 'A' is slowly slipping away, damn it). So, yeah. New chapter. I can't even promise steady updates over the summer because I'll be job-hunting as well as leaning heavily on the Calculus classes (as opposed to now, when art projects and large essays take up all my time), but I will not go this long without an update again if I can help it, promise. Twice a month is my goal, but I'm holding to at least once a month.

Also, timeline wise, we're after Tales of Ba Sing Se, and fast approaching Lake Laogai. I would say Appa's Lost Days, but that episode took place over a large period of time, so, yeah. Aside from the minor timeline adjustments that I made, but you're already aware of those.

Disclaimer: I think you get the point.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

It was…odd. To say that Zuko was unhappy would've been a grave understatement. Even livid would've only barely been brushing the deep, unsuppressed feelings of utter rage that burned within his soul. At the same time, though, for the first time in an extremely long time, the banished prince was beginning to feel something mostly unfamiliar to him: contentment. Sure, he was pouring people tea and ungrateful Earth Kingdom nobles tended to grate on his nerves and he was more than likely never going to get the chance to go on a date with a girl again, but generally, things were…good. He really should've expressed his feelings a long time ago. Uncle was lying off the tea jokes, Sokka was eyeing him suspiciously from _across the room_, and Jet…well, for the first time since entering Ba Sing Se, the banished prince of the Fire Nation found he had space to walk two steps without getting that creepy feeling that someone was watching him from behind that window over there. It was almost enough to make him actually want to smile—just a brief, quick upturning of his lips that barely pulled at the muscles, nothing deep or anything.

Almost, but not quite.

On the even less gloomy side of things, Zuko had finally uncovered the reason behind the Avatar's extended stay in the city. The moody prince didn't know if Sokka had told him out of guilt or to appease him or what, but it certainly gave him food for thought. He now had several options before him, all of which could end in any number of pleasant ways for him (and several unpleasant ones he was loathe to admit because Zuko was a realist, _not_ a pessimist like everyone accused). This, too, added to his mostly content state of being. If things continued on like this, the dark-haired teen was going to find himself dangerously close to being happy. And Zuko was _never_ happy. It was a law of the universe.

Expressing his feelings had been unexpectedly cathartic. Despite his habit of complaining grumpily about random things or glaring angrily into the distance, he wasn't generally in the habit of expressing his feelings, and he had finally reached that oft spoken about point where everything bubbled over into one—okay, _two_ big explosions (because talking rationally to Jet? Yeah, that counted as a big explosion. An explosion of _temporary insanity_).

On the bright side, it seemed to have worked. He had even managed to get one apology out of the whole thing and an explanation as to why a certain one of the Avatar's posse was constantly degrading his life into an even more pitiable state of existence than the one he already basked in. And what did Sokka know, anyhow? The idiot water tribesman didn't know anything of _importance_—least of all anything about Zuko's life. What right did he have to judge things he couldn't remotely understand?

The dishes the angered prince was scrubbing were beginning to crack in his hands under the combined weight of the force he was using and the heat he was beginning to generate. With a frustrated snarl, he dropped the things and, growling to himself, stormed out of the Jasmine Dragon without a word. He didn't even notice when Jet casually dropped what he was doing to slink out after him, or when Sokka stopped to tell 'Mushi' he was following Jet following Zuko before running out, too, so wrapped up in his rage was he (also, this was the reason why Iroh was glad he had hired another extra hand. Teenage boys just couldn't be relied on).

And he had been almost content all of five seconds ago.

Agni, this was why he needed those two idiots out of his life. This was why he needed out of this fire-forsaken _city_ filled with mindless crowds of people forced to obey an authoritarian government that cared even less about them than the Fire Nation would, should they ever conquer Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li craved control more than any Fire Lord ever had, and anyone who had lived in the lower ring and most in the middle and upper rings knew someone who had been forced on a "vacation" by the city's police. It was hard not to hear about it, especially when you were an immigrant. The warning on the boat across the Serpent's Pass had been quick and concise and summed up in the sentence that seemed to plague everything in this spirits-damned city: "There is no war in Ba Sing Se."

This was also the reason why, no matter what he said out loud, Zuko honestly couldn't feel regret over saving Jet from the Dai Li—not that the wheat-chewing idiot would ever know this, or even say thank you for the huge risk 'Li' had taken that night, risking the attention of the city's enforcers in order to save a stupid peasant with an attitude problem even worse than his own. And he was a conspiracy theorist, to boot (although, in all honesty, with the world they lived in, there really always _was_ a conspiracy. It was just about uncovering the right one). And people claimed that the Prince of the Fire Nation was evil.

A sudden flash of a familiar-looking brown ponytail caught the corner of his eye and yanked the moody prince out of his thoughts. He jerked his head around, catching a second look, and sure enough it was—

"Jin!" he called, dodging people in the market to catch up with the girl. She stopped and turned, her bright smile turning into a frown when she caught sight of who was behind her. Zuko stopped short in front of her, all the words of the carefully planned out speech that he had spent hours on, late at night when he was supposed to be sleeping, in the event that he ever saw her again slipping away from him at the sudden change in demeanour.

"Hi, Li," she greeted evenly—if a little coolly.

"Um…h-hi, Jin," he replied. This was not his element. Fighting was his element. Spying was his element. Hell, _fire_ was his element. Girls? Not something he could ever understand or compose himself around long enough to try to. Agni knew how much time he had spent trying to impress Mai when he was eleven. This was not a situation he was trained to handle, but with all the stubbornness ingrained in him (and with a demon sibling like Azula, it was quite a lot), the nervous boy stood his ground and desperately rooted around his mind for the words to the speech he had so tirelessly and endlessly worked on. "I just wanted to tell you that…I mean to say…um…the other night, uh...I really…it was…nice? And I'm…sorry?"

Oh, great. She was still glaring.

"N-not that we have to do anything like that again," he tried some more. "But you haven't been by the shop, and…uh…Uncle Mushi was wondering, and…I mean, um…coupon?" He held the paper up in front of him instantly, mentally ordering her to take it. He was relieved when the green-clad girl giggled, taking the paper from his hands.

"I…had fun, too," she replied before frowning again. Only this time the antisocial boy noticed that she was glaring past him rather than at him. "The reason I haven't been around your shop is, well…_those two_. Your friends." She pointed, and he turned in time to see Jet pull Sokka over to one of the street vendors, the two unconvincingly browsing. Zuko felt a tick develop above his eyebrow all of a sudden.

And here he thought he had finally gotten some peace from everything except his own inner thoughts.

"They're not my friends!" he exclaimed. "I don't even want to _work_ with them." And yet he was stuck serving tea with them every. Single. Day.

Zuko's mind was made up even before the paper floating from the sky landed in his hands. Seeing the "Missing Airbison!" add just proved to him that this was what he was supposed to do.

He was going to find that damn bison and get at least one of them out of the city as soon as he could. Oh, but Jin was saying something to him. He really needed to stop zoning out while she was talking.

"I think they're about to start fighting again!"

Zuko dropped his face into his palm with a low groan.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Jet, this isn't a good idea," Sokka tried again. He knew it was futile—arguing with a madman always was. And if there was one thing that Jet had always been in Sokka's mind, that was it: mad. As a zebra-lion.

"No, really, this is perfect!" the insane Freedom Fighter returned, furiously pretending to be interested in whatever junk he was rifling through in an attempt to look busy. "I don't know why I didn't see it before. This is all he needs, I'm sure of it."

"And you said it yourself—I know him better than you do. Li will _kill_ you." And Sokka mentally congratulated himself for not even hesitating a bit before speaking the banished prince's assumed name. "Besides, it looks like Jin is willing to try another date—which means you still owe me, by the way."

"Okay, so she might be a problem, but one easily taken care of. I did it once already, after all. Why do you care, anyway? You don't like either of us. If it doesn't work, I'll be dead, and he might be more upset than usual. No skin off your back." Jet whistled merrily as he continued to pretend to shop.

Those were great points the crazed, obsessive teen brought up, and in all honesty this situation really didn't affect him that directly—other than the fact that, theoretically of course, Zuko could hunt the Avatar down with even more fervor and anger and general hurt channeled into every attack than before. Of course, that was assuming that the firebender took up his favourite pastime of Avatar-hunting again, something that wasn't all too likely considering the older boy was branded a traitor and hiding out. What it came down to was the fact that his father had taught him good values and Sokka felt kind of bad about what he had said that morning. That, and he wouldn't wish Jet on anyone.

There was also that minor detail where Zuko could bend fire and Jet utterly loathed every member of the Fire Nation, no matter how young or old. The ones who could actually _bend_ the element were even worse in his eyes.

"Besides," Jet continued, and the blue-clad tribesman couldn't help but pray to his ex-girlfriend that the idiot would stop talking, "I realized something last night. I think…I think I might love him."

Sokka stared in disbelief. It was literally all he could do in the face of the foolishness he was being presented with. It was utter foolishness. If he had been drinking something, he would've either spit it out or choked on it.

"Jet, that's ridiculous."

"It is not! From the moment we met on the boat, I knew there was something between us. And then we had a minor bump, but when he saved me from the Dai Li, I realized I was wrong."

"And then you continued to stalk him and bother him and drive him to the brink of murder even though you had just tried to have him executed, more or less. Besides, you're forgetting one key point: you're incapable of loving anyone."

Jet stopped what he was doing and whipped around to glare at the younger teen. The wheat-stalk in his mouth was dangerously close to being broken in two between heavily ground teeth. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he kept his voice low so as not to attract any undue attention—one bad run-in with the Dai Li had been more than enough to teach him that, at least.

"Exactly what I said," Sokka snapped back. "You don't love people, you find people who you think are useful to you and put them into the situation where you have the best chance of manipulating them. Li saved your life; he's the most useful person to you in the world right now."

"That's crap," the tall teen snapped back snidely. "I loved Katara right up until she froze me to a tree and left me for those Fire Nation bastards to find."

Times like these, Sokka regretted accepting Iroh's offer. While freely 'spying' on Zuko (and Jet) was beneficial and all, Katara would forever be an easy point to stir up contention between him and the ex-Freedom Fighter—and Jet seemed to like bringing her up whenever he could. "First of all, you tried to kill destroy a whole village, and I mean kill everyone in it, young and old—"

"—They were Fire Nation scum, they deserved it!" Jet cut in darkly, barely keeping his voice down."

"—and me! Secondly, you didn't even know us a _week_. You don't fall in love in a _week_."

"Yeah, well, I can tell you that three days was more than enough time for me to get to _know_ her." Punching Jet was really getting to be a bad habit, but it was the most cathartic way of dealing with the jerk.

Said jerk growled and grabbed his unluckily unbroken, bloody nose before moving to return the favour. Halfway there, though, his fist was intercepted and yanked behind his back. Both boys were stunned for a second before they realized it was the angry face of Zuko/Li glaring back at them from over Jet's shoulder.

"What in Ag—the hell is your problem? Do I look like I want to deal with you two idiots every second of my day? Do you two really need that much _attention_?" The added hiss to the last word emphasized his meaning as he released Jet's arm. "And stop following me around!" he added, shoving the taller boy hard. And then he was walking away with angry mumbles under his breath, back to the first girl he'd ever successfully interacted with, and Sokka remembered the real reason he had tagged along (other than keeping Jet from utter stupidity—really, he was entirely too nice sometimes).

"Wait, Li," the blue clad boy called out, jogging slightly to catch up with the angry tea server.

"What?" Zuko snapped back. His glare was even more intense than usual, one gold eye narrowed angrily, the other burned frozen in its permanent scowl.

"I'm, um, sorry for what I said earlier. About, you know." He gestured to his own face for emphasis. For a split second, Sokka could have sworn he saw the angry prince's glare lessen into something much closer to genuine astonishment, but before he could even blink, it was back with even more force than before and Zuko was brushing him off to go back to stuttering helplessly and tripping over every other word with Jin. When he turned around, Jet had left—whether to the Jasmine Dragon or wherever he lived, Sokka neither knew nor cared. With a huff, he, too, turned to leave, heading back to the fancy house the city had so kindly put Aang and his loyal travelers up in for the duration of their stay.

A certain younger sister had some questions to answer about their brief stint among the Freedom Fighters.

**TBC…**

Well, here it is. Chapter Five. I hope you enjoyed! I mean, I churned this thing out in a day—probably my busiest day this semester, too, but after everything got done. I hope you enjoyed!

Just for the record, I summarize this chapter as follows: In which Zuko's like, "I just want a girlfriend!", Jet's like, "I just want Zuko!", and Sokka's like, "This just can't end well for anybody."

Please review?


	6. Grand Discoveries

So, I've realized we really haven't seen that much of Jet's craziness. And don't get me wrong, I love the character, but in this story? He's one of those insane people who seem perfectly okay upon first glance, but are really disturbed once you dig down deeper.

The big question of the hour: Are Jet's feelings genuine, or is Sokka right? What's your opinion; I'd like to know!

Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender, don't you think Book Two might've gone, well, the way it's going here? Exactly. Although, this chapter DOES have lines shamelessly ripped straight from the show again.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

The apartment was small and sparsely decorated. There was nothing altogether new or fancy, but compared to the dingy rooms of hardened clay that a large portion of the lower ring was built from, it was a dream come true. There was even a bedroom that housed both occupants, but was separate from the rest of the quarters. It was this bedroom that Jet was currently contenting himself to rummage around in, looking for any clues he could find that would bring him closer to the current object of his obsession. Or affection. If he believed as Sokka would have him, they were more or less the same thing.

Jet knew he shouldn't be in here. Li had caught him sniffing around he and Mushi's old abode when they stayed in the lower ring, and the Freedom Fighter had been extremely lucky to come out of that in one piece. That time, though, he was just trying to nab some piece of clothing that would bring him closer to his new friend. This time, Jet had a goal. He wanted to get to know the moody, scarred boy, and the only way Li would let him would be if Jet proved himself in some way. But he didn't know his fellow tea server well enough to even try and impress him.

Not yet, at least.

Besides, what Sokka avidly did not know was that Li was all Jet had left to cling to. Smellerbee and Longshot had all but ended their friendship after the incident with the Dai Li, only coming around every so often to make sure their old leader hadn't done anything stupid like accuse people of firebending again. As far as Jet was concerned, if they were going to write him off like that, he was going to write them off just as easily.

Sokka was right about one thing, though: Jet was eternally grateful to his fellow immigrant for saving his life. And he _did_ need Li in his life, but it was because his feelings were genuine. It had just taken him a while to realize what they were. And that's why he found himself creeping around the small apartment, trying to find out whatever he could.

So far, he hadn't discovered anything more than what he had the last time he had been in there. Sure, they had acquired a few more decorations with the move to a nicer place, but the two family members seemed to like to keep things sparse. They had clothes, food, a set of dao blades (clearly Li's), a couple of ancient tea scrolls (clearly Mushi's), some dying plants, and not much else. There was a locked case in the corner, but Jet wasn't trying to leave evidence of his intrusion, and he wasn't sure he could pop the lock without breaking it.

Now, he had been reduced to pacing back and forth across the wooden floor, trying to figure out his next move.

"Spirits, damn it!" the perturbed Freedom Fighter finally exclaimed, stomping his foot on the ground. The resultant sound wasn't a heavy thump as he had expected, but rather a hollow-sounding noise, and a grin spread across Jet's face, even as he popped the wheat stalk out of his mouth and stuck it in his bag. He knelt to the floor and noticed a groove there, something to make for easy removal of the floorboards.

"You are slick, Li," he laughed to himself, and popped the wood up. There was a case hidden there, much like the one in the corner, only this one was smaller and wasn't locked. His grin growing, the brown-haired boy reached down and pulled the top off, revealing something wrapped in cloth. This was getting better and better, he thought to himself. Jet pulled the thing out and held it in his hands for a second before curiosity got the best of him and he unwrapped it. And paused.

It was a mask. It was a _blue_ mask. A blue masks with black eyes and a wide, terrifying grin. A blue mask that he had seen time and time again throughout Fire Nation controlled territory, a picture wherever there were Wanted posters plastered. The picture of the bane of Fire Nation soldiers. The Blue Spirit.

Jet fell back in surprise, dropping the mask to the floor. He sat there staring at it for minutes before laughter bubbled up in his chest, and he found himself doubled over laughing hysterically.

"Oma and Shu, this is too good! Spirits, this makes so much sense," he exclaimed to himself between snorts. The first time the Blue Spirit showed up, saving the Avatar. The sightings of the Blue Spirit in recent months, sporadically appearing throughout the Earth Kingdom. Li's constant nervousness, bordering on paranoia. His need to not bring any unnecessary attention to himself. How angry he was at everything. His skill with duo dao blades, the token weapon of the Blue Spirit. That was probably why he hadn't taken up Jet's offer to join the Freedom Fighters, too. The Blue Spirit worked alone.

Jet could see it all now, how very much the same the two of them were. It was a clear picture in his mind: Li, parents probably taken from him at a young age by a cruel Fire Nation soldier. Face burned and horribly disfigured, but taken in by his uncle, who raised him. Somewhere in there, he learned weapons and decided to strike against the nation that had so badly wounded him.

Jet understood that. He understood that better than anyone, especially better than _Sokka_ or everything's-so-simple _Aang_. People like them couldn't function in a society that chose to blatantly ignore the war, even if it seemed that both of them had come to start over in a peaceful environment.

Quickly putting everything back just the way he found it, the Freedom Fighter took the moment to ponder over his discovery. Sokka was wrong, and this proved it. Jet _was_ in love because Li was just like him. And if Sokka was going to get in the way (again), he was just going to have to get rid of him.

Meanwhile, across the Upper Ring in the restaurant district, Zuko found himself unusually paranoid. He was sitting across from Jin, trying this "date" thing out again, and it was going only marginally better this time around. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was going horribly wrong somewhere, and it was going to rebound onto him somehow. It was the same feeling he'd gotten before getting on that boat across the Serpent's Pass that day, and then he'd met Jet, and everyone knew how well _that_ had turned out.

"—and I had really wanted to show you the Firelight Fountain, it's my favourite place in the city. The way the candlelight reflects on the water is just so beautiful, Li. Li?"

Zuko blinked, and tuned back in to where the pigtailed girl was staring at him expectantly. "Uh…that sounds…nice?" he tried. She smiled, and was off chattering again, leaving the prince to his thoughts.

Jet and Sokka were his problems at hand, and if he was going to overcome them, he would have to take them one at a time. Ideally, Zuko wished he could get Sokka's help to drive Jet off, but Sokka was the easier of the two to deal with. He was with the Avatar. The Avatar came for his bison. Give the bison to the Avatar, the Avatar would fly away on his foolhardy task, his trusty boomerang idiot in tow. Jet, Zuko was going to have to make a determined effort to drive off.

Unfortunately.

"I can't do this," Zuko suddenly exclaimed, cutting off his date's spiel. Jin looked taken aback. The girl really was quite pretty, and that was all of why Zuko found her interesting, he'd realized. She herself had lived all her life safe within the walls of Ba Sing Se. She didn't know anything about the war beyond the vague, "It's happening outside the walls" that prevailed among anyone who hadn't immigrated to the giant, walled prison. She was just so…_normal_.

"I'm sorry?" she questioned.

"I need to go," he stated. She looked lost, slightly confused, and more than a little disappointed as he stood up, but the boy forced himself not to care. He pulled out his money pouch, this time making sure to leave enough coins to cover the meal before leaving. Uncle would be disappointed because Zuko didn't imagine she would be stopping by for tea again any time soon, even with the coupon. He sighed.

It was approaching sunset now, and the exiled prince realized he had ditched the teashop all afternoon. Iroh would probably still be there cleaning up and closing for the day, but he found no urge in him to go help his uncle. Not today. Instead, he found himself back at their small home, and before he knew it he was digging up his hidden secret from under the floorboards. The mask felt foreign and familiar, all at once, the same as it always did whenever he pulled it out. He knew on some level, had known since he had first decided to go after Aang when Zhao captured him, that he was betraying the Fire Nation every time he became the Blue Spirit. What he was deciding to do now was only cementing that, and for a second he paused. That pause was enough for what little common sense he possessed to filter through his angst-ridden brain. Uncle Iroh would most likely not approve of this course of action, he realized, and contemplating trapping the Avatar was a pretty stupid idea. Besides, Sokka wasn't…_too_ bad. The water tribe boy was actually pretty pleasant to be around, even if he needed to watch what he said occasionally. It was Jet that was the real problem. Jet and his bipolar, stalker tendencies. The Freedom Fighter had issues, and those issues were beginning to impede on Zuko's issues. They were driving him crazy, slowly but surely. Part of him really just wanted to not care and let himself actually be friends with the wheat-chewing stalker, but previous experience showed that that was most likely not a good idea in any sense of the word. Besides, the scarred boy got had been feeling even more uncomfortable around Jet than usual, because there was that growing sense unhealthy attachment that practically oozed off the taller teen whenever he came within ten feet of Zuko. And, loathe as he was to admit it, the firebender really had no idea how to get rid of his stalker without Sokka's help.

With a growl, he shoved the mask away. The bison would have to wait. For now, he had a Freedom Fighter to take care of.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Wow, the great and mighty Sokka sees fit to grace us with his presence today," Toph commented, idly flicking her earwax. The blind girl was seated on a cushion in the main room and the usual gloom she had been emanating since they came to Ba Sing Se was matched only by the sheer boredness she was now clearly experiencing. Sokka was all set to ignore her, but then he noticed something odd.

"Are you wearing…makeup?" the watertribe boy questioned.

"Yeah? What of it?" And boredom was replaced by a sudden shift in temper, not unlike the ones he had come to expect from the moody Fire Nation prince he had been working with for some time now. And, woah, weird thought comparing Toph and Zuko in any way. Clearly, he was beginning to get entirely too comfortable around the older boy.

"No, nothing. You look…nice," Sokka complimented. It wasn't a lie. She did look nice. It just…didn't fit her, the makeup. _Katara_ was a makeup person. _Suki_ was a _copious_ amount of makeup person. Toph was a natural person, happily at home in a healthy coating of earth…earth of the uncolored variety (or maybe just the same shade of brown all over).

…But if the earthbender decided that she wanted to be girly, who was he to burst her bubble?

"But, anyway, have you seen Katara?"

"Yeah, she's—"

"Oh, hi, Sokka," Well, speak of the devil. Katara herself walked in, Aang hot on her heels, his adoring, wonder-filled eyes following her every movement, and reminding Sokka of the delicate situation he needed to address.

"You had sex with Jet, didn't you?" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger in her direction. Well, that had certainly been a delicate way of easing into the situation. But then, it was sort of like a splinter: you just had to yank it out sometimes.

"_What_?" Katara exclaimed.

"What?" Aang echoed.

"Who's Jet?" Toph interjected.

"You did, didn't you?" Sokka snapped. "That night, you stayed in his room! The whole night! Didn't you!"

"No! I…I…we just talked!" the girl protested. Fury was rising in her eyes, and Aang backed away from her slowly, sensing the impending doom.

"Wow, I didn't even need to sense your heartbeat to tell _that_ was a lie. So, was Jet your boyfriend or something?"

"He was _not_ my boyfriend!" And water lashed out at the blind girl, but Toph felt Katara move to bend and had a sheet of rock protecting her.

"You are in _serious_ denial," Toph cackled.

"You had sex with him! Tui, La, and Yue, how could you be so stupid? How could _I_ be so stupid? I thought you were smarter than this!"

"Uh…guys?" Aang ventured, but was ignored in favour of the shouting match that was starting.

"Shut up, Toph! And what business is it of yours anyway, Sokka? It was _one_ _time_. It was a mistake and I regret it!"

"You're my little sister! I'm supposed to be protecting you for dad; of course it's my business! You can't just go around sleeping with people—especially not people like Jet! I mean, Spirits, did you sleep with Haru, too?"

"Who's Haru?"

"Sokka…Katara…calm down!"

"How could you even suggest something like that?"

"Well, how am I supposed to know you if you go around doing things like that! With _Jet_!"

"I told you: it was a mistake!"

"It shouldn't be something you regret—it should be something that never happened!"

"Well, it did! Okay? It _did_!" Sokka was expecting his sister to freeze him in a block of ice—he wasn't expecting her to burst into tears and run out of the room.

"Katara—," he began, moving to go after her, but a column of earth sprung up in front of him as Aang ran out instead.

"Maybe you should let Twinkletoes handle this one," Toph cackled slightly to herself, but Sokka still caught the sound and glared at the small girl—not that it did much good, what with her being blind and all. "Instead of, you know, smashing a boulder onto her heart some more."

"But she _had_ _sex_ with Jet!"

"…Well, it's not like she had sex with angry ponytail, Fire Nation guy, right?"

Stunned silence hit Sokka so hard he thought Toph had earth bended at him again for a second. Well…there had been that one time Zuko had kidnapped her…but, no, Katara would never! Well, he'd thought that about Jet, too, and look what had happened. But _Zuko_ would never. That, at least, Sokka was absolutely sure about. The prince was entirely too much of an awkward, shy prude to ever even think about using Katara in any way that wasn't meant as some kind of leverage in his never-ending quest to capture the Avatar (although, to be fair, it was put on semi-permanent hiatus at the moment).

…And it was completely sad that Sokka was placing his faith in Katara's semi-chastity on Zuko.

"No," he finally responded to Toph. "Zuko's way too shy to ever even think about doing that kind of thing with Katara. I don't think he even knows how."

And the blind girl was staring dumbfounded at nothing (although the look on her face was more than likely directed at him).

"What?" he protested, before a large piece of rock sent him flying out of the room.

"And you wonder why you just upset her."

**TBC…**

Ah, Chapter Six. At long last you have come. Finally, Team Avatar fully enters the picture. Like, with a whole scene and everything. And on the Jetko front, the plot thickens. I make no promises about getting the next chapter up in a week or anything because, one, I'm notoriously bad at those; two, I'm doing summer classes and Calculus continues to kill me (it's a bitch); three, I'm leaving the country week after next for a small bit and have to get ready; and, four, I have fall semester coming up to prepare for.

Oh, and I have a plethora of other fic that are on a much more rigid time schedule than this one (both fan and original). :( And thanks for all the wonderful reviews! They really do mean something, even if I don't always get back to you about them. I do try, though.

But, still, I hope you enjoyed! Until next time, please review! =D


	7. Shocking Realizations

Yo. I'm back! And here with another chapter in the continued adventures of our three hapless anti-heroes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own. But I was totally watching an episode earlier, go figure.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

"I need your help."

Sokka turned from where he was grabbing fresh tea leaves off the shelf of the storeroom to see Zuko standing just inside the closed door, awkwardly shifting around.

"You what?" he asked, not quite sure he had heard correctly.

"Don't make me say it again!" the volatile prince growled. He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, turning his head away so that Sokka could only see the whole side of his face. "It's—Jet."

"While I'm inclined to agree with you, I think he needs help more than you do…and that's saying something. I hear you're the Blue Spirit." Sokka was about to snort at that, but the horrified shock that spread across his coworker's face brought him to a pause.

"How do you know about that? Did Aang tell you?"

"Wait; it's _true_?" Was his first response, quickly followed by, "You know Aang's name?"

"_Yes_, I know his name! And _how do you know about that_?"

"Jet told me," the watertribe boy responded offhandedly. "I mean, I thought it was his delusions, but—wait. If you're the Blue Spirit, that means you saved Aang. You're the scourge of the Fire Nation and all that. Wow, you really _are_ a traitor, aren't you?"

Zuko's jaw twitched slightly, but instead of getting mad, he sighed. "Don't remind me. When did Jet tell you this?"

"Oh, this morning. It was kind of weird. I mean, I was just washing some dishes and he came in all randomly."

"_I know Li's secret." It was said with such a broad smirk and in such a lighthearted tone so different from anything Sokka might have been expecting to accompany those words that the Watertribe boy stopped what he was doing and dropped the dishes he had been washing back into the sink. Water splashed onto his shirt, but he ignored it and turned to face Jet more fully. The older boy was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, his whole body just exuding confidence._

"_Run that by me one more time?"_

"_I know Li's secret." And now Sokka was just disturbed because that smirk had grown, and had a distinctly positive vibe to it rather than a more than slightly crazed one. _

"_You, uh…you do?" _

"_Yup. I don't know why he tried to hide it from me. Did he think I wouldn't understand? I mean, I think I would understand better than anyone. It all makes sense now. How paranoid he is, how he knows you guys, why he doesn't have any friends. I really don't know how I didn't see it before. It's so obvious."_

"_And…you're okay with it?" Sokka wasn't sure what Jet was talking about, but he was almost positive that it didn't have anything to do with fire._

"_Okay with it? Why wouldn't I be okay with it? This is great! This just proves that Li and I are meant to be. I never would have guessed that he's the Blue Spirit."_

_Sokka had paused before, but now he froze completely, an awkward smile stretching across his face as nervous laughter bubbled out of him. "Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh. Yep, that's our Li. Blue Spirit. With the—mask. And the—swords. Heh. Saving Aang from the evil Fire Nation! Yeah, that'd be him!" That was it. The younger teen had it all figured out. Jet had snapped. He had officially attained a new level of crazy heretofore unreached. "How'd you, uh…figure this out?"_

"_I was looking around his apartment and found the mask hidden under some floorboards."_

"He was in my room?" Zuko interrupted angrily..

"Please, _not_ done with the story yet, thank you very much."

_Sokka blinked. Jet was even worse off than he thought. "Right. Um. I think I hear Ir—Mushi calling me. I'm just going to go see what he wants."_

"_Yeah, okay. I'll finish these, then." Jet motioned to the sink and the half cleaned dishes there. _

"_Um, thanks," the watertribesman muttered, and hightailed it out of the room as fast as he could without making it look like he was trying to escape. There was definitely a talk with Zuko that needed to be had if Jet was going around thinking the prince was the Blue Spirit. But that could wait. He had been slacking off lately, and while Iroh was surprisingly lenient in the amount of time he let the three boys skip and laze around, Sokka had noticed that he'd been getting paid considerably less the past couple of days. And the point of this all was to earn money for when Team Avatar finally left Ba Sing Se. Besides, how else would he be able to justify buying that lovely necklace for Suki that he'd seen in the market the other day. She would take one look at it, and rush to kiss him again. Or punch him. You could never be quite sure with her… _

"I don't need to hear about your girlfriend." Zuko had shifted during the story and now sat cross legged, leaning back against the door. Sokka shrugged and plopped down next to him.

"Well, she's not really my girlfriend. We kissed a few times, and she beat me up once, but then she kind of ditched me for the rest of her warriors. It hurt."

"I can't believe Jet broke into Uncle and I's apartment _again_."

"I can't believe _you're_ the Blue Spirit. I mean, honestly, what prompted that? That was back when you were still chasing us and everything."

"I'm _still_ planning to capture the Avatar," Zuko groused. It wasn't his fault that his plan to restore his honor had hit a minor glitch.

"I'm sure you are. That's why you _saved_ him the one time he _was_ captured and Katara and I weren't available to help."

"I had no choice! And I don't want to talk about that, anyway. I need to get rid of Jet, and you know him better than I do."

"If by 'better than you' you mean I know he's crazy and you don't, then, yes, I do." Sokka got a darker scowl in return for his failed attempt at humour.

"I just want Jet to leave me alone. I don't know what he wants or why he keeps bothering me, and I don't care. But if you help me, I'll find the Avatar's bison for you."

"Back to the Avatar? What happened to 'Aang'?"

"Will you help me or not!" the prince snapped. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, and he looked somewhat uncomfortable despite the glare he was shooting at the watertribesman.

"How do I even know you can find Appa?" That question was even deigned with an answer, and Sokka inwardly laughed at the pointed look he was given. "Point taken. Normally, I wouldn't trust you, but you're surprisingly honest for someone whose evil. Also, Jet's a manipulative bastard who I wouldn't wish on anyone. Except maybe Zhao or your dad. Or your sister. Um, no offense or anything."

"None taken. And, uh…thanks, I guess."

"No problem, buddy. I guess you weren't kidding when you said that thing about him sniffing your clothes, huh."

"No. I wasn't."

"Well, in that case, there's only one thing I can really thing of you doing right now to get rid of him. I mean, you've tried killing him, and you're not willing to let him get arrested. I'd say just ignore him until he goes away but, well, Jet. And you. I'm going to suggest something that you're probably not going to like. Don't roast me for it."

Zuko eyed him warily, and Sokka stopped and waited until he'd gotten a half nod to continue.

"Hang out with him."

"…You want me to what?"

"Well, the way I see it, you've tried just about everything else to get rid of him, right? Short of telling him you're Fire Nation, the only thing I can really think of is spending time with him and being your miserable self and letting him decide he doesn't like you all on his own. Or you could _tell_ him you're a firebender and and actually _let_ him get himself arrested this time."

Zuko's scowl deepened.

"See, so that options out. You know, for an evil guy, you're entirely too nice."

"I'm _not_ evil."

"Yeah. I know."

There was silence between them that stretched on for a while, neither quite knowing what to say next. Finally, though, the scarred boy broke the silence.

"Do you really think this'll work?"

"No, not really. So, what're you playing for music night?"

"…What music night?"

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Wow, Jet, you seem to be in a good mood," Smellerbee commented idly. Longshot, sitting next to the girl and directly across from their former leader, nodded his agreement. With Jet having moved out of their shared apartment back when they had stopped speaking after his near-fatal encounter with the Dai Li, the last three of the Freedom Fighters had taken to meeting for lunch at least once a week. Usually they went for noodles of some kind, or something heavily fried and fast, depending on the overall mood of the group. Jet took the time as simply hanging out with two of his oldest friends, but to Smellerbee and Longshot, it was when they checked up on Jet to make sure he was still all right. At least today he seemed happy and not mildly depressed over Li ignoring him, making it a noodles day.

"Yeah," the boy responded, popping his wheat stalk into his mouth. His voice had a slightly airy tone to it, like he was daydreaming again. "Li asked me out."

Smellerbee gaped, noodles half hanging out of her mouth, as Longshot expressed his concern with his eyes.

"Okay, so he didn't really ask me out—it was more polite than anything else, and Sokka's going to come, too, but we're going to the zoo together. That's got to count for something, right?"

"The zoo. He asked you to the zoo."

"Yeah," and there was that dreamy sigh. "Although, we're having music night at the Jasmine Dragon tonight. You guys should come. It'll be fun. Also, it's been a while since we've really hung out together. It does sound like fun, doesn't it?" Jet finished with a response to the message embedded in the look Longshot was giving him.

"Yeah, that sounds great, Jet," Smellerbee smiled.

"Cool, because Li's definitely going to be there, and I feel like if he's going to become a part of my life, you guys should really get to know each other."

The two other Freedom Fighters looked at each other and sighed.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Where are you headed off to?" Toph asked with a yawn, moments before Sokka made out the door without being noticed.

"Work, why? I mean, I told you I got a temporary job while we're here," he replied with a shrug. His day-to-day watertribe clothes were replaced with expensive looking green robes of Earth Kingdom design, not that the blind girl could see that.

"Well, I know you're not lying, but don't you work in the day? It's nighttime."

"Yeah, but we're having music night. Actually, you should come. Food, tea, music. It's supposed to be fun." While Sokka was trying not to alert Aang and Katara to the fact that Iroh and Zuko were in the city, Toph, who as far as he knew was still relatively unfamiliar with the two, could be trusted to keep silent about things like this.

"Eh, sure, why not. It's not like I've got anything better to do. And you don't need eyes for music."

"Not that you really need eyes for anything."

"True point. Maybe they'll have the tsungi horn."

"I don't know, but Mushi did say something about being pretty good at it."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Music night?" Zuko exclaimed. "You didn't tell me we were having a music night!" He glared at his uncle over the tsungi horn being presented to him. "And I'm not playing that thing!"

"But Zuko, all employees are require to perform on music night. Sokka is playing the pipa, and Jet has so kindly volunteered to play the flute for us! And you are quite good at the tsungi horn, nephew. I don't know why you always refuse to play."

"Fine, I'll play the stupid horn! But that still doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell me about this!"

Iroh smiled that innocent, conniving smile he made whenever he knew he had successfully manipulated his nephew into doing something the moody teen didn't want to do. The innocent look of it didn't fool anyone, least of all Zuko. "I could have sworn I told you, nephew. Must have slipped my mind."

Zuko frowned and grabbed the instrument, storming off to go practice. At least he had gotten _some_ warning.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

The Jasmine Dragon was already bustling with people by the time Sokka and Toph arrived, and the not so melodic sounds of someone killing a yueqin resonated through the open shop.

"Geesh, I know it's music night, but does that mean they have to just let anyone play?" The blind earthbender complained. She made no effort to lower her voice, and Sokka found the two of them being glared at by a nearby noble-looking couple.

"Toph," he began, turning to the girl, but was cut off when she shrugged.

"What? You know it's true. It's like—oh, hey, Uncle! Sokka, you didn't tell me he'd be here." Sokka turned his head to see Iroh approaching them with an even broader smile than usual stretched across his face.

"Hello, Toph. It is lovely to see you again," the old man greeted enthusiastically.

"Wait. You guys, uh…you know each other?" The boomerang boy's head was whipping back and forth between the two of them as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on.

"Oh, yes. We had a very interesting conversation over tea in the woods one day."

"Did you ever work things out with your nephew?"

"Actually, I did. He will be gracing us with a rousing performance of the tsungi horn tonight." Iroh practically beamed as he said this, and when Toph shot him back a smile equally as bright, Sokka just felt left out.

"I didn't know he could play the tsungi horn," he finally offered. "I didn't know he could play _any_ instrument, actually."

"My nephew is quite the virtuoso, in fact. It's a shame he doesn't play much." Iroh sighed, but didn't lose his upbeat look.

"Weird," Sokka muttered to himself. "Do you know where he is right now?"

"I'm not sure exactly," the former general chuckled. "Knowing him, he's probably hiding in the back to avoid playing."

Zuko was, in fact, hiding in the back room, but contrary to his uncle's belief it was not to avoid the tsungi horn. Earlier, he had felt somewhat reassured by Sokka's advice and approached his crazed stalker with the outstretched hands of, well, not friendship, but something much less like hate and annoyance and more like…_tolerance_. Jet had seemed pleasantly surprised and hadn't even wasted a moment to agree to go to the newly formed zoo (and also drop hints that they should leave Sokka behind). It had been entirely expected but still slightly odd, though the former prince had steadfastly not backed down from the challenge set before him.

And then Jet had shown up with his two friends for music night, and Zuko had come to the stunning realisation that he had no idea what in all hells he was doing.

"You know, I might be crazy, but I don't think hiding back here was part of the plan."

Zuko jumped. He legitimately jumped and whirled around, barely restraining himself from slipping into a bending form as he came face to face with an amused watertribesman.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, damn it!"

True to form, Sokka pretty much just ignored him.

"Shouldn't you be out there being, I don't know (and I can't believe I'm actually saying this), _friendly_ to Jet?"

There was a long silence, made more awkward by the fact that Zuko seemed more put out than on the verge of getting angry. Finally, though, the scarred prince responded.

"I, ah…I don't really…know…how…"

"It's easy! You just have to go out there and pretend to be friends—or, at least, like you're willing to be friends."

And now the firebender was beginning to anger, and Sokka seemed to get what he was trying to relay.

"Wait, so you're saying you—really? _Never_? No _wonder_ you're so screwed up."

"Well, it's not exactly live I've had time to go around making friends the past few years!" Zuko snarled, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but, I mean, before you were—left home. I would've thought people would be clamouring over each other to hang out with you, being who you were and all."

"Actually, I think they kind of resented me. Their parents forced them to hang out with me and be nice."

"So you didn't have _anyone_?" Sokka was openly gaping now, he knew, but he'd never considered anything like this before.

"Well, I mean, there was always Azula and her friends, and I hung out with my cousin, Lu Ten, until he joined the war, and my mother until she—," Zuko cut himself off, shaking his head and unfolding his arms to run a hand through his ever-growing black hair. "You said you would help me, so just do it!"

The younger teen grinned lightly, making sure to not let his voice sound anything but normal. "Well, the point of this _is_ to make him not like you anymore, so just…go be yourself."

"Just go be my—what the hell is that supposed to mean?" he exclaimed, but Sokka had already slipped out the door. "Be myself. Well, _myself_ is perfectly content to sit in here longer, at least then I won't have to play that stupid horn."

And, just to prove how much the Spirit World hated him, the door opened again, and his uncle walked in, tsungi horn in hand. "Ah, nephew, I've been looking for you. You're up!"

Zuko scowled, grabbed the instrument, and stormed out of the backroom. Just because he had to play it didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

_**TBC**__…_

Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news: It's Camp NaNoWriMo! I'm participating! 50,000 words this month! The good news: I'm cheating slightly, and adding 50,000 words to this fic! This chapter being the first production of my efforts.

So, enjoy.

I probably won't update every time I finish a new chapter, but more like steadily every 2/3 weeks so I can take some time in between writing to edit (which, this chapter actually isn't, so if you see any mistakes please point them out to me so I can fix them).

Thanks, and review! :)


	8. Music Night

**PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END. I HAVE AN IMPORTANT NOTE.**

Disclaimer: I still don't own. But I still watch religiously, I swear.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

Of all the things Jet had been expecting from music night, this was most definitely not one of them.

"I didn't know you played the tsungi horn," he said by way of greeting. Li, who had just exited the stage to a large round of applause, looked like he was about to throw said instrument on the ground as hard as he could.

"You don't know anything about me except what you may or may not think you found out by breaking into where I live and _going through my things_." Now Li looked like he was about to throw the instrument at _him_. Jet cleared his throat nervously and braced himself, Smellerbee and Longshot there as silent backup.

"So, uh…Sokka told you about that?" The glare he received was slightly softer than his usual fare, so Jet pushed forward, joining the shorter boy as he walked away from the stage and through the bustling crowd. "You remember my friends, Smellerbee and Longshot, right?"

Smellerbee waved.

Li nodded awkwardly, a slight jerking motion with his chin. "Yeah. Hi? It's, uh. It's nice to see you again."

"You're really good on the tsungi horn," the girl complimented. "Where'd you learn to play?"

"Thanks, I guess. My mother taught me."

"Your mother?" Jet reiterated, suddenly intrigued. He'd never heard Li talk about either of his parents before. It was always just about his uncle. "Where is she?"

"She's dead." There was a surprising lack of anger in that statement. In fact, there was a surprising lack of any emotion in that statement at all. Still, though, it was more than Jet had ever heard before, so he decided to push a bit.

"She's—was it the Fire Nation? Did they get your dad, too? Is that why you came here with your uncle?" The sudden tic that developed in Li's jaw indicated that Jet wasn't getting anymore out of him.

By now, they had reached the other side of the bustling teashop, and Li approached his uncle, returning the horn by unceremoniously dumping it onto the table in front of Mushi, Sokka, and a blind girl that sat with the two.

"That was a very heartwarming performance, as usual, nephew," the old man greeted, unfazed by his nephew's surliness.

"Who's the girl?" Jet asked, sitting down at the table, as well. Music night was, apparently, a serve yourself kind of thing meant more for fun than any real sort of income, so while Mushi had made them attend, there wasn't too much for them to do beyond take their turn performing.

"Oh. Jet, this is Toph. Toph, that's Jet. You already know Li, you know, Mushi's nephew. Toph's Aang's earthbending teacher."

"Wait," Toph began, a knowing grin on her face. "Is this _Jet_? You know, _the_ Jet?"

"Yeah. Actually. He works here, too." Sokka glared at the wheat-chewing older boy, but got a smirk in return.

"Hah! Well, I'm not the one telling Sugar Queen about this."

"Please don't," Sokka muttered.

"You don't want to tell Katara about me?" Jet taunted, leaning across the table towards his acquaintance. Surprisingly, it was Toph who answered, and not Sokka.

"_You_ don't want us to tell Katara about you. I can feel her murderous rages three rooms away! And that was just from one conversation about you, and most of that was not directed at Sokka."

"Yeah, Jet, it's probably best to leave that one alone," warned Smellerbee.

"Why, what happened with her?" Li asked, and Jet gave a pleasant sigh inwardly at the confused look on his usually upset face.

"_Nothing_," the dark-skinned teen snapped.

Li shrugged and took a seat next to Toph.

"So…" Toph began, when the silence had grown a little too uncomfortable for the preteen girl. "Nice weather we're having."

"It is, isn't it? Perfect weather for the zoo. Speaking of which, Li and I are going this weekend." Jet directed a pointed look at Sokka. Maybe he would get the point and leave the two of them alone, but then again, the watertribe boy had made it something of a personal mission to ruin Jet's life (at least, the Freedom Fighter thought so). Still, it didn't hurt to try, and if he could somehow buy some alone time with the object of his affection, he would be one step closer to his overall goal.

Surprisingly, though, it was the scarred teen himself who responded.

"Sokka's coming, too, actually," he commented offhandedly, purposely ignoring the snide look that passed from the Freedom Fighter to the blue-clad warrior. "He's the one who got the tickets."

"Oh, yeah, you got those from Aang, didn't you?" asked Toph. "You know, he's the one who relocated the whole thing. Nice bit of earthbending, if I do say so myself." She looked every bit the proud teacher. Jet blinked as he noticed the hand Li had resting on the table clench into a fist when the girl mentioned Aang's name. He looked up, to see an even more defined frown than usual on the scarred face, the other boy's one brow furrowed darkly. Apparently, he wasn't the only one to notice the sudden shift in mood, because the earthbender spoke up about it suddenly. "What's your problem?" she asked Li, leaning into his space to pester him.

"Nothing," he said flatly, not reacting to the way she was impeding on his personal space.

"Well, che, _that's_ a lie if I ever saw one. And I'm blind! So, what, do you have a problem with Aang or something?" Li's fist tightened again, and Jet found himself surprised at how perceptive this blind girl was. How did she even notice?

There was tense silence despite the loud noise from the crowd around them as everyone waited for Li to respond. Mushi finally interrupted it with a forced cheerful laugh. "Would anyone like another cup of tea? The ginseng is especially soothing today."

"No, I wanna hear what his problem with Twinkletoes is. I mean, I'll understand. He can be really annoying sometimes." She leaned more into the scarred boy's personal zone, but was stopped when Sokka placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Toph, can I talk to you for a second? _Over there_?"

"Fine, whatever. Ruin all my fun."

Jet watched them go, and contemplated following them to eavesdrop. Whatever it was was most likely about Li, and he would take information about his mysterious future soulmate in whatever way he could. However, before he could, someone else surprisingly caught his attention.

"So—Jet. Have you ever…been to the zoo before?" It was awkward and forced, and sounded like having to make pleasant conversation physically grated on his nerves, but Li had actually directed a regular, conversational topic towards him. Jet was not going to let this opportunity get away from him.

Meanwhile, Sokka walked Toph through the sea of people, making a straight line for the storage room. The dark-skinned boy made sure to lock the door behind him before turning to his friend and travelling companion.

"Is anyone hanging around trying to overhear outside or anything?" he asked.

The green-clad girl shrugged one small shoulder. "No, not that I can feel. Why? What's the deal, Snoozles?"

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you: you have to promise not to freak out about it, okay? And you can't tell Aang or Katara—they wouldn't get it, and they might do something stupid and rash, and he's really not that bad of a guy." Sokka knew he probably sounded like he was pleading, but he didn't really care. He also didn't know why this was suddenly so important to him.

"What are you even talking about?" the girl returned with a yawn. "Just say what you're going to say."

"Li is actually Prince Zuko."

Toph paused in the act of picking her ear wax with her pinky. "You mean evil Fire Nation ponytail guy who chased you guys around all the time?"

Well, when she put it like that… "Um. Yeah. Kind of. But he doesn't have a ponytail anymore. And his uncle, Mushi, is actually Iroh, the general who held Ba Sing Se under siege for 600 days."

And why did the blind earthbender look entirely more excited than she should have at this prospect? "So you're saying the Fire Nation have infiltrated Ba Sing Se?"

"No! Well, yes, sort of, but, no! And why are you so excited at that thought?" Really, that was a little disturbing, Sokka thought to himself as he backed away from the small girl—not that there was really much room for him to go anywhere in the tiny storage closet.

"Are you kidding? This place is so boring! I need to kick some Fire Nation butt."

"Well, they haven't infiltrated. They're here as refugees, albeit unorthodox ones." Sokka waited for Toph's reaction, and didn't know whether to be surprised or not when she just grinned wide and leaned back against the door.

"I don't know, this plan of theirs to conquer Ba Sing Se through the magical power of tea is pretty ingenious. Have you had Uncle's tea? One sip and you're dependent on it for the rest of your life. He'll have the whole world in no time. Forget about Ozai, the real villain here is this teashop." The boy laughed at this, but then she turned serious for a second. "Look, I know why I don't really care—I mean, I've met Mushi or Iroh or whatever before, and he's a pretty good guy who cares about his nephew, and you don't seem to be bothered by them being here, but that's what I'm wondering about: why aren't _you_ bothered?"

Sitting on the ground and leaning back against the shelf, the watertribesman stopped to ponder the question. "I…honestly don't know," he finally replied. "At first I was all set to get out of here and tell Aang and do something about it, but I can't really tell you what made me change my mind. I mean, Zuko seemed a little desperate, which was kind of odd to me. Curiosity, probably at first, but since then, well—you know that feeling when you realise that everything you've believed your whole life may not be entirely true?"

He glanced at the noble girl who was now sitting cross-legged across from him, seriously listening to what he had to say for once. "Yeahhhhh—no. Not really."

"I feel like we spend so much time villainizing the Fire Nation as a whole that we've lost sight of the fact that they're people, too, and some of them have probably been hurt just as much, if not _more_ than the rest of us."

"So, you feel bad for him," Toph interjected surprisingly quietly for once.

"Well, kind of, yeah. I mean, I know more about him than either Katara or Aang because when he was chasing us, I took the time to find out as much as I could about him. You know, know your enemy and all that. That's how I knew about his dad banishing him, and why I thought we should've left him at the North Pole. Someone that desperate is dangerous and would do anything to capture Aang." Sokka paused and laughed slightly. "Like breaking him free when someone else caught him. You can't trust someone like that, and I didn't. But there were other rumours, too, that I thought were just that—rumours. Now, I'm not so sure."

"What kind of rumours?" the girl asked, completely curious. He didn't mind, though. He was just glad to finally have someone to talk to about everything that had been bothering him lately (well, beyond the stuff with Jet. Aang was perfectly willing to sympathise with him over Katara's unfortunate escapades in the woods).

"You know, about his scar." Sokka casually gestured to his face, forgetting for a second that Toph was blind.

"…What scar?"

"What do you mean what scar? It's giant, takes up half his—oh."

"Yeah, great job there, Sokka. Tell the _blind girl_ how easy to _see_ it is." Her tone was annoyed, but the earthbender actually looked more amused than anything else. It was weird how much she seemed to like cracking blind jokes.

"Well, he's got this big burn scar on his face. Takes up most of the left side. I used to just assume that he did it to himself in some firebending gone wrong, but I'm not so sure anymore. I've heard a couple different stories, but the general consensus was that the Fire Lord did it."

"Wait—so you're saying his dad purposely burned his face like that?" Toph looked incredulous.

"Yeah. I mean, I didn't believe it at first—because Fire Lord or not, what kind of dad would do something like that?—but then we met his sister, and found out that he's wanted by the Fire Nation, too, now. I haven't brought it up or anything, but getting to know Zuko, it seems a lot more likely than the firebending accident thing."

"Wow."

"I know."

"I guess I would be angry all the time if that happened to me, too."

"Yup."

"Well, yeah, so that's why it's probably best not to bring up Aang around him. I think he's still got Avatar-hunting urges buried deep down even though he's mostly resigned himself to a life of tea-serving and bad leaf jokes and crazy, wheat-chewing stalkers, so it's best if we don't stir those tendencies back up. I mean, he's actually a pretty entertaining guy when he's not trying to kill you."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Zuko would never admit that he was nervous. Well, okay, he might admit that he was to Sokka, and maybe—_just_ maybe—to Uncle Iroh, but he would never admit to Jet that he was nervous, not even if his father decided to change the conditions of his banishment so that he could come home if he admitted to his stalker just how nervous he was at the thought of being friendly and making friends and all of those things that normal people did. Okay, so he probably would if it let him go home, but he wouldn't if it was the choice between telling Jet and letting Azula kill him, but only slowly and after revealing all his embarrassing childhood secrets to whoever might be around.

So, really, he wasn't _that_ nervous. Sokka had been decidedly unhelpful in the advice department, and the former prince was now beginning to wonder if this plan had any chance of working. Clearly being himself wasn't the problem—or, rather, it _was_. His natural inclination was to insult and/or assault whatever was bothering him, generally ending with a rather positive result. Jet seemed to thrive in Zuko's standoffish tendencies, and just used it as an excuse to do things most normal people—or even people as out of touch with society as the Fire Nation prince himself—considered a breach of privacy and utterly indecent.

If there was one thing "Li" couldn't stand, it was people invading his privacy.

That small detail didn't seem to deter the bastard Freedom Fighter, though. In fact, it seemed to only encourage whatever sick fascination Jet had, and instead of going away, the tall boy just hung around more and more, incessant and fervent, until one day Zuko happens to be talking to Sokka and finds out that the annoying, cocky, smooth-talking Earth Kingdom stalker had not only broken into where he lived (again), but had also found his hidden compartment under the floorboards and discovered something he doesn't even think his uncle knows. Understandably, the firebender's first instinct was murder, but that didn't seem like it was viable option at this juncture. People (namely Smellerbee and Longshot) might notice if their leader ever went missing and actually worry about the thick-headed louse. They might even suspect Zuko's involvement, as they were surprisingly perceptive at times, and that was the last thing he needed—any more attention of any kind being drawn to them at all. It was bad enough that Uncle was practically a celebrity now. News of his tea had spread even beyond the inner walls, all the way to the guards who practically lived on the outer wall. They salivated at night dreaming of tasting the enchanted leaf juice they heard so much about, but disappointed as they were unable to leave their posts. This kind of attention, while good in that it made people entirely less suspicious of a kind old teashop owner and his moody nephew than they might otherwise be, also drew attention. And attention, when directed at the scarred young firebender, tended to be more negative in nature than positive (or kind of weird and creepy and only sometimes appealing when it came from girls his age).

So killing Jet was out. Sokka's advice was clearly crap because being his usual self had gotten him nowhere, and if there was one thing Zuko would admit to not knowing, it would be how to act comfortably in a casual social setting with other people their age. That was why, when Smellerbee started directing a lot more questions in his direction (Uncle had suspiciously fled the table to go take a turn on stage) and with a reminder to himself that he was supposed to be "friendly", instead of getting angry and annoyed, he found himself flustered and uncomfortable, barely able to get anything out of his mouth without tripping over the words. It was embarrassing, to be quite frank, and even more humiliating to be reassured by Jet's easy smirk and teasing about how cute he was.

Zuko, the banished and scarred crown prince of the Fire Nation, did not like this at all.

Jet had a motive. If there was one thing the generally perceptive firebender was sure of, it was that. As he watched the older boy respond to something his friends had said (though how Longshot said _anything_ was something of a mystery in his mind) with a casual chew of the wheat stalk in his mouth and big, open gestures, he made a catalogue of everything he knew so far about the person he had come closest to ever being friends with.

The most obvious thing on the list was the number one reason why Zuko no longer felt even a modicum of positive emotion or the barest inklings of trust towards the Freedom Fighter: Jet was determined. This, in itself, was nothing new. The prince had met many determined people in his travels, not the least of which was the Avatar. But Jet was determined in a single-minded, focussed, all-consuming-passion kind of way, utterly concerned with only one thing: the complete and utter destruction of the Fire Nation. Zuko had only known one other person in his whole life who had that kind of frenzied devotion to any goal: himself. He was probably the most aware of how unpredictable it made him at times, and he couldn't let himself drop his guard around someone who had that same amount of focus put into destroying people of his culture. It was also somewhat annoying to be on the focus of that kind of drive when it had nothing to do with being Fire Nation. He actually almost preferred the days after the boat when Jet, feeling especially hurt and betrayed, had followed him and Uncle around to try and catch them bending.

At least then it was easy to figure out what the hell he wanted. Now, Zuko had no idea what Jet really wanted with him, and it was leaving him twitchy.

He was not looking forward to the zoo this weekend.

**TBC…**

Hey, all. I'm back, and in a timely manner, to boot! There are a couple more chapters that I still need to edit for lots of stuff, and that brings me to the questions I have for all my readers:

1. My current plan is to update every two weeks. Is that an acceptable wait period for you all?

2. Is there any particular day that you prefer to get updates on? I try to make it on Fridays in time for the weekend, but do you guys have any preferences?

3. Are the chapter lengths acceptable, or would you like to see them longer?

4. Where, exactly, do you currently see this story going (I mean, I have a plan, but I'd like to know what you guys think)?

So, that's it. Answers to any of these questions would be a great help to me. Thanks for reading! I'll see you all again in two weeks.


	9. What Happened at the Zoo

Disclaimer: I still don't own. But I still watch religiously, I swear.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

The past few days had flown by in a blur, and all three boys had been busy helping up about the shop. Toph had stopped by a couple times to laugh at Sokka and sit around talking to Iroh, but she hadn't stayed long, as Katara and Aang were already constantly wondering where their plan guy was disappearing to for hours at a time every day (the work excuse had only gone so far before Katara had started wondering _where_ her brother was working, and what Katara worried about, Aang did, too). They did not need to start wondering where their token earthbender was, too. Jin had also finally shown her face at the Jasmine Dragon again, but the way she ignored Zuko's attempts to speak with her clearly told everyone she was there strictly for the tea and not the boy. Even Smellerbee and Longshot had finally given in to Jet's pestering and come around, drawn back by the delicious tea they had had at music night. Sokka himself had spent most of the week sitting back and watching what was so far promising to be the most entertaining show he'd seen since entering Ba Sing Se unwrap before him. "Li" had consisted in his efforts to be nice to the Freedom Fighter, and Jet had spent the rest of the week fluctuating between amused, enthralled, creeped out, and terrified for his life. Still, though, his pursuit was relentless, and no matter how unnerving the fake smile that decorated the other waiter's face, the obsessed, wheat-chewing boy was always there waiting for Zuko after work and trying to let the other boy agree to walk home together. To Sokka, it almost seemed as if his plan might be beginning to backfire, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he tossed it out into his mental tundra, letting his mental snow white it out before he could even begin to fully process it. His plans didn't fail. Ever. Except when they did, of course (and a lot of those times had involved Zuko in some way), but those times didn't count.

Finally, though, the day had arrived. The three boys stood on the platform as they waited for the train to arrive, content to ignore the few people bustling around them. Or, at least, two of them were content. Zuko was twitchy and jumpy, and kept constantly glancing around them, although whether it was from nerves or paranoia (or a combination of both), Sokka couldn't tell.

"Calm down, Li," Jet grinned, plopping an arm over the younger teen's shoulders. "It's just the zoo. We can get to more later." The black-haired firebender stiffened, and the next second found the Freedom Fighter's arm twisted up behind his back, his shoulder pulled to an uncomfortable angle. Sokka's own shoulder twinged just watching it, but he didn't dwell much on it. Jet did deserve that and so much more, after all, even if the smug bastard kept on grinning that irritating, cocky grin the whole time.

"_Don't touch me,_" Zuko growled, and for a split second Sokka wondered if this was going to be the end of the prince's attempts at playing nice. But then, only somewhat surprisingly, the Fire Nation boy let go of his companion's arm, and went back to how he'd been standing before: glaring at everything that walked by with his arms folded tightly across his chest. What did surprise both of the other boys was what came next. "…Sorry."

The one good thing to come from that was that an actual apology had seemed to stun Jet into sudden silence. It was, unfortunately, ruined by all things that hate Sokka (or maybe Zuko, who seemed to have an even worse streak of luck), as the train to the inner wall chose that moment to pull up in front of them, and the crowd of people piled off, shuffling around all three boys.

"Well, here goes," Jet announced, and for a second a look crossed his face, one that showed he was contemplating doing something exceedingly stupid (and quite possibly suicidal). Whatever it was, though, the look passed, and the tallest of the three strode confidently forward into the stone car. Sokka and Zuko exchanged a look, and then, with a shrug from the watertribe boy, joined Jet.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

The first thing Jet noticed when they arrived was the ungodly stench that permeated the whole area. It was a foul, putrid smell that clearly reflected animals and their droppings, and no one cleaning them up—and this was _after_ the zoo had apparently been fixed up? The Freedom Fighter would've hated to visit this when it was still stuck behind the inner walls. It also seemed he wasn't alone in this opinion.

"Aww, gross, animal poo," Sokka groaned the instant they stepped foot through the newly built gates. He slapped a hand over his nose and wiped away the water that was beginning to leak out of his eyes from the stench. "Spirits, you would think a zoo this new could do something about the smell! Probably, this is why they ended up losing business _inside_ the city."

"It's not that bad," Li muttered with a shrug, pointedly looking away when they stared at him in abject disbelief.

"Not that bad?" Jet raised an eyebrow as he asked. "This place is disgusting. Is there even anything that smells worse than this?"

"Burning flesh," he returned deadpan, and so straightforward that the other two did not know how to take it. Sokka had a slightly horrified look on his face, and Jet felt a tad sick at the thought. Neither could quite avoid glancing at the healed burn. Seeing that, Li sighed. "It was a joke."

Jet laughed nervously. "Yeah. Uh…good one…"

Sokka just shook his head and patted the scarred boy on the back. "It was a good try, but why don't you just leave the joking to me?" Li actually looked put out at that suggestion, and if Jet did not know any better, he would say that his co-worker was actually pouting. It wasn't something he could dwell on, though, because Sokka quickly continued. "Well, come on, guys. I want to go see the Sabretooth Moose Lions! You know, I met one in the wild ones. It was the cutest little thing. Foofoocuddlypoo. I miss you… Granted, then its mother came, and that was a little more scary considering I was stuck in a crack and couldn't move, but, you know, Toph came along eventually, and it all turned out good." As the watertribesman continued to babble about his adventures, Jet took the opportunity to sidle up close behind Li.

"Nice view, though, isn't it?" The Freedom Fighter commented lowly, his lips barely an inch from the perfectly formed, unblemished pale ear. Instead of getting an elbow in his gut like he had been expecting (and prepared for, being in the other waiter's personal space uncaringly after all), Jet was pleasantly surprised when the other boy just nodded instead, staring out at the simply yet efficiently designed landscape. It really was quite pretty to look at, the way the animals roamed around their...well, not so much cages and pens, considering how Aang had apparently built the whole thing with earthbending, and all the animals were confined to their own location by cleverly placed walls of land. The ebb and flow of the hills and dips in the land reminded Jet of water, in a way, only more solid and unmoving, but the way the sunlight glittered across the grass made everything look brighter and more cheerful out here, outside of the main part of the city, especially with the small amount of people around. There was a crowd, yes, as there had been since the zoo had been rebuilt a few weeks ago, but it was a relatively tiny one and comprised mainly of children and their parents. Still, though, it was nothing compared to the overbearing stuffyness of the Lower Ring, where one could not take even a step outside their own door without running into some other ragged, unfortunate refugee who had not been able to (and, most likely, would not ever) find a job since they arrived and had taken to sleeping in the street like some sort of slothrat, appearing as giant lumps lining the paths through the city. The Middle and Upper Rings were not nearly as bad, but the Middle Ring was still fairly crowded, even if the conditions were much more bearable. The Upper Ring was the easiest place to get around, and with the way the rich seemed to ease through the streets the way they eased through life, it was much easier to think that there were a significantly fewer amount of people there, even if it was mainly only the bustling that had been reduced.

"You ever been to the zoo before?" Jet asked next, making sure to grip the belt he was wearing tightly in his hands. The wheat-chewing boy was absolutely sure that if he were to touch the object of his desire right now, he would end up with far worse than just a sore shoulder. Li seemed edgy today, for some reason—at least, much edgier than normal.

"Yes," the scarred boy finally responded, a jerky nod to accompany his voice. "Once. With my mother. It was a long time ago, though…and far away from here." That was the second time this week Jet had heard the other teen refer to his mother, and he noticed the way the other's voice softened a bit. It was quieter, and without that underlying current of anger that seemed to infuse even Li's most calm tones. Despondent was most likely a good candidate for the way he spoke about her—and an accurate description of the short sigh the waiter released. Jet straightened up, and stepped out of the other boy's space before saying anything else.

"You must have really loved her."

Li turned to face him at that. His lips were half open in a look that was a cross between genuine surprise and wariness as his gold eyes locked with Jet's brown. "Yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, I did."

"—Are you guys even listening?" Sokka suddenly interrupted. "I mean, this was a really traumatic time in my life. I almost got killed by a crazed mob of Avatar fangirls!" Li rolled his eyes irritably, and the moment was lost. Jet scowled internally for a second before he contemplated how best to turn the situation in his favour.

"Hey, Sokka," he began evenly, "You lost your mother to the Fire Nation, too, didn't you?"

"…What about it?" the blue-clad boy questioned warily, suddenly on the defensive. He was shooting a dark look at Jet which would not have usually bothered him had not Li also suddenly started glaring again in his direction.

"Oh, nothing. Just saying, we're all three boys here who lost our mothers to the Fire Nation. Kind of have a lot in common, don't we, Li?" Jet smirked, and continued before the scarred boy could get the 'No' in that they all saw coming. "I mean, I lost my mother to the Fire Nation, you lost your mother to the Fire Nation, Li lost his mother to the Fire Nation. I lost my dad to those bastards, you haven't seen your dad in two years because he's off fighting them, and…what, uh…what about your dad, Li?" The tall Freedom Fighter turned to look at the object of his desires.

Sokka's eyes widened imperceptibly. Zuko's lips had tightened, and he had gone from reminiscent to irritated in less time than it took Momo to grab a nut. Still, though, the brown-haired boy restrained himself from intervening. As it was, Jet and Zuko were getting a little too close for comfort, and if one of these times the Fire Nation prince were to snap and seriously injure Jet, well, the situation would be dealt with and Appa would be Aang's once more that much faster. Remarkably, though, the volatile teen looked like he, too, was restraining himself as he merely rubbed angrily at the ruined part of his face and turned away, not deigning to answer that question.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I want to go see the Rabbiroos," Sokka announced loudly. His voice was filled with false bravado, and if the other two noticed it, they did not say anything on the matter (although, Zuko shot him a slightly grateful look when Jet's back was turned—Sokka assumed it was a grateful look because it seemed less angry than the look he had been giving the ground).

"I've never seen a rabbiroo before," offered the prince hesitantly. Jet looked genuinely surprised, but Sokka understood the sentiment.

"Me neither. I mean, I have seen a lot of creatures since Katara and I left the Southern Water Tribe, but there are still _so_ many I've never even heard of that they have in the Earth Kingdom."

"Wow. I mean, they had rabbiroos nearby all the time where I grew up. I mean, I get you, Sokka, but where in the Earth Kingdom are you from, Li?"

"It's—it's down south. Near the Si Wong desert. Closest to Omashu, I guess."

"Well, I guess you wouldn't get rabbiroos that close to the desert," Jet conceded with a shrug, even as he followed his tow companions to that display. "Still, though, there's nothing _really_ that special about them. I want to see a Sabretooth Moose Lion."

"Did I not just say that when we first got here?" Sokka muttered under his breath. He was not surprised when the tallest of the three ignored him (although, he was a tad surprised when Zuko basically just shrugged in response). Still, though, with barely a word more, the three of them made their way to the rabbiroo exhibit.

"Aww, look at the cute little babies in the mother's pouch!" Sokka practically cooed when they got there, leaning over the wooden rail to try and get a better view. "They've got—hey, is that a someone's pet?"

Zuko looked where the dark-skinned boy was pointing, but before he could respond, he felt a tugging on his arm. Glancing back, he found his resident stalker standing entirely too close for comfort again, especially as Jet leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Come on, Li, I have something I want to show you." He glanced over to Sokka, but Jet continued, "It will only take a second—we don't need to bother him." The black-haired firebender narrowed his eyes dubiously, but after a moment's contemplation decided to just go with it. He was supposed to be being _friendly_, after all. Besides, it was not as if he could not beat Jet in a fight should it come to it. That night so long ago when Jet had attacked him and Uncle at the teashop lingered in the back of his mind, along with the knowledge that Jet fully knew he would get beaten should violence of any kind be the result of skipping out on Sokka like this. So he nodded, and allowed the taller boy to grab his hand and lead him away from the rabbiroo pit and through the winding crowds.

The crowds seemed to thin out as they walked further, and the people they did stumble across seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. Zuko frowned because he knew they were not heading towards the exit—in fact, they were going in almost the exact opposite direction. There were only a couple more animal pits this way, and he idly wondered what exactly it was that Jet wanted to show him or if this whole thing was a waste of his time. Finally, though, the other boy pulled them behind some boulders and stopped, turning to face the prince with a broad grin on his cheeky, handsome face.

Zuko blinked and glanced around, his head swirling from side to side. There were more giant piles of stone to the left, the wall enclosing the zoo in front of him, and a surprisingly thin, mostly empty path around the boulders to their right. He dimly realised, "There's nothing over here."

"Yeah, there is," Jet grinned, stepping around until Zuko realised himself to be unexpectedly trapped between the taller teen and the wall of rock behind him when he stepped back uncomfortably and felt stone digging into his back.

"So, um. What did you want to show me?" He was flustered, now, and nervous—his fingers seemed to have developed a slight tic. The problem was not that Jet was up to anything usual—the problem was that this was _not_ the other boy's usual mode of operation, and, as such, the firebender could not make heads or tails out of what the Freedom Fighter could possibly be up to. The fact that Jet smirked in reply did nothing for the paranoid prince's nerves.

"Just this," the tan-skinned boy announced, pulling the wheat stalk out of his mouth with one hand before leaning over and planting his lips on top of Zuko's.

Meanwhile, across the zoo, Sokka looked up from where he had been rambling about the animals to realise that he was now alone, with neither of his companions in sight.

"Damn it!"

**TBC…**

Sorry all! I almost forgot today was the two-week mark, lol. For some reason I thought I updated last week. Also, this chapter's a tad shorter, but that's because I had to leave it off there. I'll make it up to you, promise.

**Question of the hour: How do you think Zuko responds to Jet smacking-lips?**

1. Denial (If you say it didn't happen, it didn't happen.)

2. Anger (Violence is always the answer.)

3. Bargaining (It only happened because…)

4. Depression (He only likes me because of a lie!)

5. Acceptance (Omgsh, Jet kissed me, cool!)


	10. A Little Thing Called

Sorry for the lateness! Just so you know, I love you all. You're great, and I haven't given up on this story, I've just been busy and writer's block. But, seriously, you guys are the best. 55 reviews on the last chapter! Think we can beat that this time? Lol.

**PLEASE SEE BOTTOM AUTHOR NOTES.**

Disclaimer: I still don't own. But I still watch religiously, I swear.

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

The first thing Zuko noticed, upon his mind returning from a completely blank state, was that there was a tongue in his gaping mouth. A tongue that was most fervently _not his own_, but did not seem to realise that, if the way it was swirling around and exploring like it owned the place was anything to go on. He made a noise of protest, but it was muffled by the extra appendage currently investigating where it avidly did not belong. And, dear _Agni_, it was touching places in his mouth he didn't know he had. _Why was there a foreign tongue in his mouth?_ Desperate contemplation did not provide an immediate answer, and, as such, the firebender responded accordingly.

"Ow! Fuhk!" Jet exclaimed, yanking his head back. "You bhit me!" The tan-skinned boy was holding his tongue out and desperately fanning the appendage even as he attempted to glare, and if Zuko hadn't been so extremely agitated at the Freedom Fighter's blatant _audacity_, he might have laughed a little on the inside at how ridiculous Jet looked.

Instead, he punched him.

The taller boy, not expecting the sudden attack, fell back, although his hands moved from his tongue to cup a now-bloody nose. "What the hell, Lhi?"

"What the hell? _What the hell_? What the hell, _you_! You _kissed me!_" The scarred boy shouted.

"Yeah, ahnd?" Jet snapped back, still obviously unhappy with the state parts of his face and mouth were now in. "In case you hadhn't noticed, I khind of lhike you, Lhi! Godh!"

Zuko's lips tightened as he narrowed his eyes, and in a surprising display of levelheadedness for his rage, restrained himself from punching his fellow waiter once more or releasing a cloud fire from his nostrils. Instead, the former prince turned around and stormed back the way they had come, around the giant boulders, past the rabbiroos Sokka so desperately wanted to see, behind the rhinocolions, across from the Sabretooth Moose Lions where Sokka still stood (and, momentarily, he contemplated stopping and punching Sokka, too, just for the hell of it), and out the front gates, back through the city, and into the Upper Rings. By the time he reached his and uncle's small abode, he had calmed down marginally, although he still felt as if he were going to breathe fire at any moment.

"You're back early," Iroh commented lightly the moment Zuko stepped through the door, but the teen ignored his uncle and made sure to slam the sliding door to the bedroom closed as hard as possible. He slipped cross-legged to the ground and took a deep breath. There were no candles in the room (or, for that matter, the apartment, currently) for him to meditate with his bending as little as he could in this city, but the breathing exercises always did wonders for his temper—not to mention what sitting still for large blocks of time did for contemplating his life and existence and the Spirit World and all those fun things.

Letting out the breath he was holding, Zuko forced himself to clear his mind. Meditative breathing without producing fire was hard enough as it was when he was this agitated; focussing on the object of his ire would only serve to make it that much more impossible to calm down. He took another breath.

Granted, listening to Sokka had probably not been the best course of action. The watertribe "warrior", as he called himself, was more than likely not that well adept at dealing with whatever type of situation this currently was. Still, though, he seemed relatively adjusted and normal. And he _did_ have past experience with Jet. He was just…kind of an idiot.

A new idea suddenly dawned on the prince, and he wondered why he hadn't considered it before. A wiser course of action would be to ask someone with actual life experience. While Sokka might be more used to these type of situations (though, come to think of it, when Zuko had attacked the Southern Water Tribe, there hadn't actually seemed to be any other people in their age group there), he was still at least a few months younger. Zuko needed someone older. Someone older who always had his best interested in mind. With a determinedly unhappy frown no his face, the banished prince pushed himself up and walked back out into the living area, taking a seat across from where the old teamaker sat.

"…Uncle," he began hesitantly. "I need your advice."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"What did you do?" Sokka demanded the moment Jet walked back into his vicinity. They were currently near the tigerdillos, which was always a fairly empty part of the park.

"What makes you think I did something?" the taller boy shot back, his usual infuriating smirk on his lips. The watertribe boy took small satisfication from the fact that there was clearly dried blood around Jet's nose, as well as a rather obvious bruise forming.

"Aside from the fact that you clearly got punched, there's also the small detail of seeing Li storm out of here angrily a little while ago." And Sokka had definitely noticed that Zuko had looked like he was going to come and throw fire at him for a second, and that was never okay—especially not when the prince wasn't actively hunting Aang at the moment.

"I didn't do—ow," the Freedom Fighter interrupted himself. As one hand went to his mouth, realisation hit Sokka all at once as the older teen continued. "I didn't do anything."

"You kissed him!" he declared in surprise, jabbing his finger out accusingly. The few people in the area looked over at the two of them oddly at the announcement before suddenly the tigerdillo viewing paths were suddenly even more empty than before.

"Yeah? And?"

"Oh my—I can't even—_You kissed Katara with that mouth!_" The mental images flooding into Sokka's mind were too much for him to handle, as he stared at the taller boy with the wheat stalk in his mouth. The mouth that had just kissed Zuko. The mouth that had _kissed his little sister_. There were mental lines, and one had definitely been crossed, and the result was a word vomit that even the usually talkative boy could not have prepared himself for.

"You know, if you want him to like you, you're going about it completely the wrong way! I don't even know what's worse; the way you were with Katara, or the way you seem determined to get Li _not_ to like you while being as creepy and pushy along the way as possible! I mean, you know he asked me to help get rid of you, right? He doesn't even like me, but he _still_ likes me entirely more than he likes you, and that's saying something. Although, maybe not really because I don't think he likes anyone other than his uncle—and he seemed to like that Jin girl before we ruined that—but that's not the point! The point is that your creepy, stalker ways do not need to be letting _anyone_ else kiss my little sister indirectly, _especially_ not him! Just, no! That's gross!"

Sokka paused as Jet blinked in uncertainty for a second before asking, "He really doesn't like me?"

The facepalm was one of Sokka's closest friends, but he hadn't wanted to use it this much since the Cave of Two Lovers. He gave in to the urge. "_No_, he doesn't like you. You invade his privacy, invade his personal space, accuse him and Mushi of serious crimes with no evidence, attack him, _steal_ stuff from him, and then _don't apologize_ for _any of it_, and then you expect him to like you? I knew you were a jerk, but, as much as it pains me to say this, I didn't think you were _that_ much of an idiot, what with how you manipulated Aang and Katara so easily and tried to get rid of me back when we first met."

Jet sighed and plopped down on the ground, leaning back against the dirt wall to the tigerdillo enclosure, and somehow the brown-haired boomerang-wielder found himself sitting next to his adversary. "I don't know. It's weird. With Katara, it was so easy to get her to, you know, '_like'_ me—no offense—but with Li it's, like—maybe that whole false accusation thing? I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I open my mouth to say the right thing, and something else comes out. Or I do something that works with other people—like that kissing thing definitely worked on your sister—and he reacts all wrong."

"First of all, offense is taken at you mentioning Katara. Second of all, Li is _nothing_ like Katara. Third of all, didn't I already tell you that it won't ever work out between you guys? You're too…different, I'll say. But if it makes you feel better, it's like I said: I don't think he really likes anyone. But in this case it's probably not so much a matter of him liking you as him not trusting you within a two mile radius of his person. And, really, have you even done anything to try and convince him otherwise?"

Jet brooded for a moment, the wheat stalk between his lips twitching up and down, before he grinned, slapped one hand on his knee, and then stood up. "Thanks, Sokka. You know? You're right. I really _am_ going about this all wrong."

"Um. You're welcome, I guess." Blue eyes blinked as they watched the earth kingdom native stride off, the expression in them reflecting the dumbfoundedness the blue-clad boy currently felt wash over him. _'Did I just give Jet relationship advice?'_ And then, _'Well, if Zuko didn't want me dead before…'_

Shaking his head, Sokka jumped to his feet, heading in the direction of the exit to leave this weird day at the zoo behind him. It took entirely too long to get back to the upper ring, and by the time he arrived back to his temporary home, the dark-haired boy was more than ready to spill his feelings to anyone he came across. _'I can't believe I just gave Jet relationship advice!'_ he exclaimed mentally, as he stepped through the threshold. _'With Zuko! I mean, even if it weren't Zuko, the most advice I should be giving him is stay away from people.'_

Luckily enough, the first person he saw upon entering the building was Katara, who made a point to glare at him, and then ignore him, emphasizing the fact that she was still not speaking to him, before then shouting, "Aang! Let's go put up more flyers!" and storming outside of the beautifully decorated stone house to wait. Aang came rushing out of one of the rooms a few seconds later, flyers in hand, with a quick call of, "Hi, Sokka! Bye, Sokka!" before he was out the door to wait on Katara's every want or need. That just left…

"Hey, Snoozles," the earthbender greeted. She was spread out in her usual haunt on one of the floor pillows she had set up for herself. "You look like you could use someone to talk to."

"Ha ha, very funny, Toph. You know, sight jokes only take you so far."

"Nope, they never get old. So, what's up? Angry fire princes, ex-Freedom Fighters, Mushi?"

"Toph! Don't talk about that stuff here like this; you know the Dai Li are watching us."

"See, that's the thing about a city made entirely out of stone. I can tell when there's not a single person around, and the Dai Li agents watching us took off after Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen."

"Oh. Well, in that case," and Sokka took a seat next to his faithful audience as he began to relate the events of the day.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"As much as it lightens my heart to finally see you make a friend," Iroh began gently, pushing a cup of tea over towards his grumpy nephew, "I don't think you really need my advice right now."

"What are you talking about?" Zuko snapped. "Of course I need your advice! I don't know what to do!"

"Quite to the contrary, nephew. You know exactly what you must do," the old man responded, taking a nice, long sip of his perfectly hot ginseng tea. "It's like I always say: 'You must look within yourself to—'"

"I don't want any of your stupid proverbs, Uncle!" the prince interrupted, a deep growl in his throat. Frustration coloured his voice as he crossed his arms to shoot a steady glare at his uncle. "I want you to tell me what I should do! I just…I'm so confused right now. I don't know what to do!"

Iroh sighed, resting his cup back down onto the plate he had brought for it. "The way I see it, Jet is a very nice young man, but he has some severe issues with the Fire Nation. It is nice that you are making friends, nephew, but you know that pursuing anything further with Jet would be unfair to both yourself and Jet, and it would be built entirely under false pretences."

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm not already lying to him, even if I _were_ to consider even being his friend. And—and I don't even _want_ to do anything with him, anyway!" the prince announced, cheek red and face flustered. "I just want him to go away!"

"Whatever you say, nephew," Iroh said with a small grin plastered across his face. "Now, taste my new blend. I'm thinking it will our new house special! We can call it 'Springtime Romance'!"

Zuko huffed and sipped at the tea reluctantly. _'Why did I ever think it was a good idea to ask Uncle for advice?'_

"Don't worry, Li," the old firebender began, and if hearing his false name come out of his uncle's mouth in the privacy of their own home didn't bother Zuko on an intrinsic level at the moment, he didn't know what did. "Things will sort themselves out for the best; of that, I am sure. I also know that you know what you must do."

The gold-eyed teen just glared as he finished the tea, responded to questions about the flavor with a thrown out, "I'm fine" and headed to the bedroom for sleep. Lying in bed, thinking about what the next day might bring, the black-haired firebender found sleep a long time coming. But, finally, his eyes shut and his breath levelled out, and before he knew it, it was the next morning, and Zuko was walking into the Jasmine Dragon, apron already tied onto his chest.

"Li!" he was greeted almost as soon as he walked in. Jet stood right in front of him, what stalk gone from his mouth, with possibly the most serious look Zuko had ever seen on the other boy's face. His nose and eye were badly bruised, and it left the banished firebender with a sense of satisfaction that was most likely what made him more malleable to the darker-skinned teen's next question. "Can I talk to you for a second in back?"

Contemplating his options, the younger teen realised that by arriving before anyone working or ordering anything, Jet had pretty much just monopolized his time this morning. "Fine," he agreed reluctantly and allowed himself to be pulled by the arm into the back room. Jet let go, and then moved to stand in front of him, a slight shuffle to his feet that spoke of nerves.

"Look, Li, I—I got to talking with Sokka yesterday after you left, and I realised some things—some things you tried to tell me the other night, but I was kind of an ass and didn't realise. So I just, I wanted to apologize. For real, this time. I'm sorry for accusing you of being Fire Nation, and I'm sorry for attacking you, and I'm sorry for acting really weird around you, and for betting on your love life with Sokka, and ruining your first date, and invading your privacy and personal space, and for kissing you at the zoo yesterday, even though you've only ever done nice things for me. But the truth is, I really like you, and it's been throwing off how I act with you. I kind of wish things between us could go back to how they were back when we first met—you know, on the boat to the city. So, what do you think? Think we could start over?"

Zuko blinked. He…really hadn't been expecting that. His good eye narrowed as he assessed the boy in front of him. Jet seemed nervous enough that it might be true, but, still, the shorter teen couldn't be sure. As he opened up his mouth to respond, Jet cut him off, however.

"Look, you don't have to forgive me now or anything. I know I've been kind of an ass to you. But even if you don't want to, I think we should at least _try_ to be friends, seeing as we're going to be working together for while and all. So, there's this festival in the middle ring next week that I was wondering if you wanted to go to with me…and Sokka, too, of course. I promise I won't try to kiss you again."

"You're right; you _have_ been an ass, and I _don't_ forgive you…but, fine, I'll go with you." Somewhere deep inside, Zuko felt like he was making a bad decision as he said that, but that feeling tended to accompany most decisions in his life, so he had just learned to ignore it.

"Great!" Jet enthused. "Okay! Next week. I guess we should open the shop soon, then?"

The firebender shot him with a look that clearly read, 'You think?'

**TBC…**

Okay, everyone, once again: sorry for the lateness. In other news: Korra! Korra kicked my muse back in enough for me to churn out this chapter after months of writer's block and writing and rewriting. Now for questions of the hour.

**1. Is Jet being sincere, or manipulative?**

**2. Should this story end in Jetko or Zukka, because I have multiple endings planned, and a sequel that could work with either one.**


	11. A Really Great Day

Have I told you lately that I love you? Like, seriously, I love all you guys. You're the best. The very best. Like no one ever was. And, as a reward for being awesome, awesome people, here: the next chapter. A new chapter should always be it's own reward. Although, this chapter's significantly less crack than others. Also:

**SEE BOTTOM FOR MORE NOTES.**

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

The moment Sokka stepped through the threshold of the Jasmine Dragon, he had been able to tell something was off. It wasn't anything largely significant that told him, more something his instincts screamed into his gut. If there was anything the watertribesman had learned in his life, it was that his instincts were rarely ever wrong (although, Katara and Aang would readily argue that point; Jet, too, although he had no basis for his argument. Zuko probably wouldn't care enough to answer). Two minutes later, his instincts had been proven right. Again.

Zuko had been looking at Jet, and he wasn't shooting mental fire in the Freedom Fighter's direction. The firebender hadn't been scowling, either, though—his brow was furrowed, and lips twisted downward, but there was no obvious aura of hostility. And, clearly, from the relatively large number of people that had been sitting in the area Zuko usually served, Sokka wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Now, sitting and waiting for Iroh to get done counting the money to pay each of them, the unease from before was growing as he watched Zuko and Jet interact. Or, rather, he watched Jet sit next to the other boy and mindlessly chat to him while Zuko sat there with his arms crossed, a lack of scowl on his face, and his head tilted slightly in a way that suggested he might actually be paying attention and not completely ignoring Jet. The unreal situation was offset by purpling around Jet's nose and eye: a blatant sign that there were things horribly not right in the world.

There was a sick feeling in stomach slowly replacing his instincts, and Sokka half-recognized it as horror, even as a frown formed on his face.

'_Oh dear Yue,' _he thought to himself, _'What did I do?'_

Because as annoying as Jet had been with his creepy, forceful efforts to get Zuko to notice him, the fact that Zuko did not currently hate the other jerk was indeed a problem. Besides, if there was one thing Sokka knew from both recent and former interactions with the ex-prince, it was that Zuko was, first, a bad decision maker, and, second, an even worse decision maker when it came to his interactions with other people.

Really, though, anyone who managed to befriend Jet—even if it was under false pretences and his true nature was quickly revealed, as was usually the case—was a bad decision maker. There was a reason that Sokka was the plan guy of his little group, and not Katara or Aang. And Toph was stubborn enough that if Sokka ever met his doom, she would take over as I-have-a-better-plan-than-Aang-or-Katara girl. Although, no: Toph being in charge of plans would be just as bad an idea. She was great in a fight, and had that whole 'waiting and listening' thing down, but she was entirely too stubborn, and liked the direct approach.

It had to just be a bender thing, Sokka decided. That was why he was the most stable and sensible out of all his friends and the other benders he knew. Jet might be crazy, but at least he always had things well-thought out, like the true non-bender he was. He wasn't flighty like Aang, or prone to acting without thinking like Zuko, or stubborn to a fault like Toph, or…watery, like Katara. He was just crazy.

Suki would probably be a better example. There was a nice, normal non-bender who was perfect! Sokka was sure that the Kyoshi Warrior always had a plan, and always made good choices. She'd kissed _him_, hadn't she? And she wasn't crazy.

'_Well,'_ the brown-skinned teen sighed to himself as he continued to watch Zuko and Jet. '_At least Zuko's not, like, smiling at him or something. Then I know I'd have a problem. Not to mention, that'd be freaky.'_

A beat passed, during which Jet sidled closer to Zuko and the former prince turned his nose up and slid away so that the same amount of distance remained between them. Sokka caught himself beginning to grin before he replaced his frown.

'_Okay, clearly I've been spending way too much time around Zuko if I actually care what bad decisions the jerkbender makes with Jet.' _He paused. _'Hah! Jerkbender. That's a keeper.'_

Finally, Iroh emerged from the backroom, money pouches in hand. Quickly crossing the room, the stout old man approached Sokka with a broad smile. Sometimes, Sokka wondered how Iroh and Zuko were even related.

"Here you go, Sokka," the friendly old man said, handing over one of the small clinking bags. "I greatly appreciate your help here; you really help out an old man. You, too, Jet." He turned to the Freedom Fighter, giving him his payment. "And you, as well, nephew."

Zuko took what was offered, a mumbled "Thank you, Uncle," under his breath.

"Anyway, I'm gonna take off now," Jet declared, jumping to his feet. "Smellerbee asked me to stop at the market and get some stuff from one of the vendors for her. You coming, Sokka?"

Sokka blinked. Zuko blinked.

"I'm sorry; what?"

Jet stared at the smaller teen, one extremely crooked eyebrow raised and he continued to chew on his wheat stalk nonchalantly. "You heard me. You wanna come to the market with me?"

Sokka's lips turned down lower. He narrowed his eyes at his sister's ex and attempted to siphon off some of Zuko's firebending in order to burn holes into the crazy freak as he inspected him.

"…Sure, why not," he finally settled on, internally heaving a sigh. The blue-clad boy really didn't know why he did these things. His life would be much simpler if he never agreed to anything ever. He used to be like that, he mused sadly. Life was so much easier then. Just living in the South Pole, only worrying about food.

Jet was already heading to the door, so Sokka pushed himself to his feet, turning to the other two males. "Thanks, Mushi. Li. I'll see you tomorrow!" And then he strode to the exit.

"You don't want to go with them, nephew?" Iroh asked the instant the other two boys were out the door.

"Spirits, no," Zuko groaned, running a hand over his face. "I think this has been the most exhausting day since we got to this stupid city." The scarred teen didn't miss the raised eyebrow directed his way, and he scowled, crossing his arms. "What?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing," replied Iroh, in the tone that always read 'There's definitely something, but I don't feel like sharing because it's about you. Would you like some tea?' "Have you thought about what I told you?"

"…Yes," he admitted, grunting the word out. "But I don't want to be friends with Jet."

"You two seemed pretty friendly today," the old man teased.

Zuko didn't answer. He just frowned more, his arms tightening. "Things were so much easier before. Why can't they just go back to how they used to be?"

"Before what?" Iroh asked, claiming the seat next to his troubled nephew.

"I don't know," he snapped. "Before the North Pole. Before we came to this spirits-damned city. Before, back when we were on the boat."

Iroh was silent for a second. And then he placed a hand reassuringly on his nephew's arm. "Change is a part of life, Zuko. In fact, there's an old saying that goes—"

"I don't want one of your sayings, Uncle," the scarred teen cut in.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"You know, I really have to thank you for your advice, Sokka," Jet grinned. There was a taunt in that, Sokka knew it, and Jet was just waiting for him to rise to it.

"You're welcome," Sokka finally said.

"You were completely right. I've been doing everything wrong. I apologized to Li, and he agreed to go with me to this festival they're having in the middle ring next week. I mean, he said you should come, too. But it's still basically a date. You'll just be like a third wheel."

And now Sokka was twitching. Today had been a great day for Jet, and the opportunity to grate on Sokka's nerves was just the sugar in the tea.

"What type of festival?"

Jet wanted to grin. He really did. Instead, he just shot the younger boy a slightly disbelieving look. "A beer festival," he replied. His tone clearly read, _'Obviously.'_

Sokka stopped in his tracks. Jet had to backpeddle a bit to fully grasp the other boy's response, hoping he hadn't missed anything. Luckily, the part of the city they were in was relatively quiet, only a few people passing by the nicely blocked-off stream they were walking next to.

"Wait. You invited _Z-Li_ to a _beer festival_. And he _agreed to go_."

"Yeah," Jet said. "You were totally right about it having nothing to do with him not liking me. I apologized, and now we're good."

"I want to say I'm surprised that you actually apologised, but I'm not. You would definitely apologize to get what you want."

Jet glared at Sokka. While it was true that he wasn't always above getting people to do what he wanted, whether by withholding information or telling them just what they wanted to hear, Jet had never once apologised for something he wasn't in the wrong about. If getting on people's good side was all he cared about, he would've apologised to Katara that day she left him iced to the tree. It wasn't like he needed her anymore or anything, but making enemies outside of the Fire Nation wasn't ever Jet's goal.

So what if an apology really was what Li had been waiting for? Jet knew he hadn't always been in the right. He'd been feeling like apologising for ages now. He'd _tried_ to apologise that night on the roof, but it hadn't quite…come out. It was a bit weird that it had been Sokka who had prompted the sudden apology, but other than that, this was all Jet. He was determined to make Li like him. If apologising was what it took, then apologising was what he did. But only because he really had done some inappropriate things.

"I only apologised because I was wrong. I mean, I did accuse him of being Fire Nation and tried to get him arrested." And he hadn't actually apologised for that one until this morning, despite the fact that he knew he needed to.

Sokka was still staring at Jet doubtfully. He opened his mouth to respond, when all of a sudden he was interrupted.

"Sokk—_Jet?_"

The Freedom Fighter turned around to be met with a sudden, all-too familiar blast of water that sent him flying backwards. Katara. Right. Just what he needed right now.

"Sokka!" The girl demanded as she stormed forward, one hand ready at the water pouch to attack again. Aang followed behind her, a confused look on his face, trying to calm her down even as she turned on her brother. "What is Jet doing here, and _why are you talking to him?_ Is this why you were…were…_accusing_ me of things the other day? How long have you known about this! Why didn't you tell any of us?"

Sokka lifted his arms to pacify her. "Well…Toph knows. I mean, we've kind of been…working together? At the teashop I got a job at?"

"You told _Toph_, but not _me_?" And, okay, she was angry.

"Maybe you should give him a chance to explain," Aang tried, tugging on the waterbender's arm.

Jet pushed himself up, trying to wring the water out of his clothes as he cautiously approached the girl. "Katara, wait! I've changed!" he tried, but the girl whipped around and, with a shriek, sent him flying again.

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed. "Calm down!"

"Calm down? _Don't tell me to calm down!_ You're the one hanging around _Jet_!"

"Yeah, and do you think I'd be hanging around him if I thought he was up to no good?"

"But it's Jet!" she insisted, and then turned to Aang. "Well?" she demanded.

"Um…," the twelve year old replied, rubbing his hand over his bald head. "Normally, I might be inclined to agree with you because it's Jet, but I think we should at least trust Sokka. I mean, his instincts were right about Jet last time, weren't they?"

Right now, Sokka's instincts were still screaming that Jet was no good, and completely a problem—but just for Zuko.

"Thank you, Aang," Sokka said.

"I can't believe you're taking his side!"

"Well, are you going to keep shouting, or are you going to listen to me?" Sokka snapped.

Katara crossed her arms and glared.

"You both know I trust Jet the least out of all of us. But he's really not up to anything here. He's just trying to start over." _'And get into Zuko's pants,'_ he added mentally.

"I really have changed," Jet piped up, and _that_ Sokka didn't believe. "I'm sorry about the way things went down between us last time."

"I don't believe you," Katara hissed. "Aang, I'm going to go put posters up over there, if you need me." And then she stormed away.

"Posters? What're you putting posters up for?" Jet asked. Aang's face fell, and Sokka sighed.

"We lost Appa. That's why we're in Ba Sing Se, actually. We've been trying to find him, and we know he got sold around here," he said.

"Well, if it helps, I'll be on the lookout for any news. I mean, it's got to be kind of hard to hide a flying bison in the city."

"Thanks, Jet," Aang replied. There was a large crashing noise from in the distance where Katara had run off, and the air nomad winced a bit. "I'm going to go make sure Katara's okay. Bye, Jet. See you, Sokka!" And then he was off.

Sokka and Jet stared at each other for a few seconds, before Jet broke the silence.

"So, about that festival next week."

Sokka snorted. "Right. You really think I'm going to let you take Li to a beer festival without me? Does he even _know_ it's a beer festival?"

"Of course he knows." Somehow, Sokka didn't believe that. Zuko didn't seem the type to willingly subject himself to a beer festival, much less one where he had to endure Jet's company for any duration of time. But then again, Zuko was full of surprises. "But I didn't know you cared so much."

"I don't. But I also know you, and like I said before: this is just going to end badly. For both of you. So you should really stop." Another loud noise came from that same direction, and Sokka huffed. "I'm going to make sure my sister isn't causing any sort of massive public destruction. I'll see you tomorrow or whatever."

Jet watched as the other boy ran off. He smirked around his wheat stalk. Today had definitely been a great day.

**TBC…**

So, like I said, thanks people! Y'all are great.

**The Zukka/Jetko vote is still on. How should this story end?**

**I promise special fanart if this story reaches 200 reviews this chapter! **

**Even if we don't, though, thanks for reviewing!**


	12. Bad Decisions

Hello again! I might say that this chapter either starts the second arc of this story, or is the beginning of the end of the first arc. Probably the latter. Sorry for the long wait again. To all my reviewers: you guys continue to be the best! To everyone else: thanks for continuing to stick with this story!

Here, the next chapter:

_**Once Upon a Teashop**_

In life, there were bad decisions, and then there were _bad decisions_. Zuko knew bad decisions intimately. He made them a dime a dozen. He slept with them at night, fed them first thing in the morning when he woke up, and all but skipped to work with them on a daily basis. But the really horrendous, ridiculously bad, life-shattering, horrifying, terrible decisions? Those came less often. The prince still made them more frequently than a normal person, though, but not through any fault of his own.

It was always the small, docile, fluffy looking things that did it. Tiny, insignificant decisions like going to a war meeting. Breaking into the North Pole by himself. Agreeing to go with Jet to the stupid _festival_. The one that had been nothing but drinking. Sure, it was some time-honoured way of appeasing some old Earth Kingdom sprits Zuko had never heard about before, but that didn't make the point of it any less about getting drunk, even if most people were dressed up in garish costumes. Yes, the currently banished prince was intimately familiar with bad decisions, but this last one was definitely the worst.

And Zuko probably would've been torturing himself over that fact if he were in any state to string two words together in his mind, much less realise the implications of his actions yet.

'_Ah…Agni,'_ he thought, a slight whimper stuck in the back of his throat. _'…pain.'_

His head was pounding, like the Rough Rhinos had decided to practice their musical act in his head before it was ready, only amplified and combined with all the comfort of getting half his face burnt off.

Sadly, though, Zuko's internal clock never lied, and, no matter how much he tried to resist it, once sunlight hit his face and woke him, it was almost impossible for him to go back to sleep.

It was strange, however, the way the he felt the light falling on his face. He usually slept with his head closest to the window, so the morning sun would usually greet his lower half first. It wasn't anything worth contemplating, though, as his head still felt like a saber-tooth moose lion was trying to claw his brain out.

Forcing one gold eye open, Zuko blinked a few times to clear the blurriness from his vision.

'…_Did Uncle redecorate?_' was his first thought, as he stared blankly at the gaudily decorated wall in front of him.

A low groan from behind caught Zuko's attention, and he slowly and deliberately peeled his other eye open before compelling his sore body to turn over. And then he froze.

'_What in Agni's name did I do last night?'_ he exclaimed mentally, and then winced, catching sight of a very familiar mop of brown hair snuggled a little too close for comfort behind him. A feeling of despair grew in his chest when he suddenly realised the fact that there was an arm around his waist. One not felt through layers of clothing. As in direct, skin to skin contact.

And…were those his pants in a crumpled mess on the other side of the room?

'_I feel dirty,'_ he realised faintly. His body felt all sticky and crusty, and Zuko might've contemplated that fact a little longer if not for the faint traces of nausea that were beginning to well up in him.

Gingerly, he removed the arm from around him, making sure not to stir the sleeping teen behind him, and stood up to collect his clothes from around the room as quickly and quietly as possible. Normally, that would've been no problem for the boy who had managed to get into Pohuai Stronghold with nary a sign of his passing, but this…hangover, was it?...was leaving him sluggish and off balance. Still, though, it was a matter of minutes before he had gathered all his belongings and pulled his clothes on in a rush, ignoring the rumpled, dishevelled state he was clearly in. His bedmate still not aroused, Zuko took a moment to breathe a small sigh of relief before he pulled open the door and stepped through, silently closing it behind him.

"…_Li?_" came a surprised voice from behind him, and Zuko whipped around to see that weird girl and the tall, silent boy that always hung out with Jet. Damn it. At least they both looked just as dazed and confused as he felt—albeit, minus the hangover.

"Uh…Smellerbee, right? I, uh…I have to…um…" and that was it. With his unscarred cheek probably even more red than his scarred one, Zuko bolted out the front door. He wasn't all too clear on whatever events transpired last night that led him to wake up _naked_ and _in bed_ with _Jet_, but he was clear on one thing:

This was somehow all Sokka's fault.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Part of Sokka felt the overwhelming urge to whistle as he walked to work, but a greater part of him was overwhelmed by a distinct feeling of foreboding. His instincts were screaming at him that he had forgotten something important, but since he couldn't remember what it was anyway, the water tribe boy just shrugged and kept walking, making sure to add that whistling to his journey. It was only ten minutes later that he realised he now had the Secret Tunnel song stuck in his head.

Again.

Damn it.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Jet had been completely unconcerned to wake up to an empty room, no sign of Li left behind. He had just grinned to himself, satisfied with his life. He _was_ waking up late, after all. Even when Smellerbee and Longshot tried to question him over breakfast, he just slapped on that satisfied, lovesick grin he hadn't worn since…well…_ever_, really, and answered their questions without getting annoyed or defensive. Walking to the teashop was actually rather soothing for once, and Jet took the opportunity to bask in the sunlight and enjoy the fresh breeze, even going so far as to stop outside the shop for a few moments to enjoy the day before heading into his workplace.

It was only once inside the Jasmine Dragon that Jet's spectacular morning began to take a downward spiral.

"Jet!" Old man Mushi greeted the moment the freedom fighter stepped inside. The old teamaker stepped into the boy's path. "Have you seen Li anywhere? He has not come in to work today, and he never came home last night."

"Uh, no, sorry, Mushi. I haven't seen Li since last night. Although, we were out pretty late, so he crashed at my place, but he was gone when I woke up this morning," Jet replied. "I…thought he'd be here already."

The old man let out a sigh before shaking his head and bustling on his way. Jet could've floated off the relief he felt at not being questioned any further. Whether Mushi was a firebender or not, the Freedom Fighter got the feeling that his boss might not be too happy were he to find out exactly what happened last night.

A sudden shiver came over the teen, and he turned around to find Sokka glaring suspiciously at him from across the room. Jet frowned. The younger boy looked like he wanted to walk over and say something, but instead, the water tribesman turned back to what he was doing and focussed on his work. Jet shrugged, and got working, as well.

It was during their afternoon break that Sokka finally came and confronted him.

"What did you do?" he demanded all of a sudden as they stood outside together.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jet replied evenly.

"You had to have done something. Li doesn't just _not show up_ like this. And Mushi is worried, and I _know_ you had something to do with this."

"I haven't done anything. Li's probably just working off his hangover somewhere from the great time we had at the festival last night."

"Festiv—oh, no." Sokka blanched. Jet smirked as he watched his nemesis reach conclusions in his head. "Oh, _no_."

"Yeah. You really missed out, Sokka. It was great. Who knew Li was such a lightweight." Jet grinned wider as he mused about what happened the night before.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"_Are you sure we shouldn't have waited for Sokka?" Li asked. Jet smiled to himself at the sight of that all-too familiar frown on the other boy's scarred face. The two of them had met at the teashop nearly half an hour ago, and after 15 minutes of waiting for Sokka to show up, Jet had suggested that maybe he was planning to meet them at the festival itself. Li had shot him a suspicious look, as usual, before shrugging his agreement. Jet had gotten the feeling that if Sokka hadn't explicitly stated to Li his intentions to accompany them earlier that day, the cantankerous waiter would've ended their date right then and there. Not that Li necessarily knew it was a date. _

_Either way, it was clear Li was beginning to have second thoughts about accompanying Jet alone. Jet didn't mind, though. They were already on their way to the middle ring, though. It was highly unlikely that the younger boy would waste the money on the tram ride just to turn around and go back as soon as they stepped off. _

"_Well, he said he was coming," Jet replied. "He knew what time we were meeting; the only thing I can guess is that he's already there or running late, in which case he can meet us there anyway. I mean, we're a little late, as it is." They were running late, no thanks to Sokka, thus why this tramcar was surprisingly empty. _

_Li didn't say anything, which Jet took as a sign of acquiescence. The other boy was surprisingly easy to read now that Jet was actively looking for the signs. The past week had been surprisingly informative now that Jet was actually making the effort to care about Li's feelings. It was a little hard to resist the urge to follow him around sometimes, but Jet had done it. He had even started backing off when the scarred teen started getting twitchy, a sure sign that he had had enough of being around the Freedom Fighter. Jet had also realised that it was pretty much impossible to not irritate and anger Li, but that as temperamental as he was, he also got over it pretty quickly when Jet stopped bothering him for a bit. There was also the heretofore unknown fact that the more space Jet gave him, the more likely Li was to actually hang around him. _

_Jet highly suspected that Li would've just ended their night out when Sokka hadn't arrived if this had been last week._

_As it was, the apology had done wonders for their relationship. Jet almost felt like they were back on the boat again. But with more people, beer, and Sokka. _

"_So…what exactly is this festival for anyway?"_

"_It's just a usual yearly festival to appease the earth spirits. You've been to one before, haven't you? They have them everywhere; I'm sure they had them where you're from."_

_Li tossed Jet back a blank look._

"_You mean, you _haven't_ been to one of these? Where are you from, the _colonies_?" _

_At the dark look he got from the other boy, Jet realised he had probably insulted him again. "So what if I am?" Li muttered. _

"_Nothing! I mean, I guess that would explain why you're here in the city. The colonies are fine. I guess. But that sucks that you've never been to one of these. My parents used to take me all the time when I was little. I mean, I couldn't participate in all the beer drinking and stuff, but there are plenty of things for kids, too."_

"_I guess…it could be fun…" _

"_Well, it's not like you're backing out now." _

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"We did wait for you, if it makes you feel any better," Jet grinned at Sokka. "Although, honestly, I should've guessed he was from the colonies. Li is a little bit…odd."

"Like _you're_ one to talk," Sokka shot back. "The colonies. Right. That's where Li's from. _Obviously_. And I would've been there—and on time—but I forgot. Katara was mad at me because of _you_ and made me stick around to help Aang search for Appa."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I think the night was even better because of the lack of _you_ in it."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

_The hateful glare that Jet was currently receiving from the other boy would've probably concerned him more if he weren't used to being on the receiving end of them. _

"_This is a_ beer festival," _Li stated darkly, now staring down at the cup clenched tightly in white-knuckled hands_

"No," _Jet replied_, _"This is a festival where people appease the spirits of the Earth Kingdom by consuming copious amounts of alcohol. There's a difference." Jet had already downed his first cup and was now staring at Li expectantly._

"_There's really not," Li muttered, and Jet shrugged._

"_Well, if you're not gonna drink it," and he pulled the cup out of the other boy's hands, downing it in one go, "You're missing out on all the fun."_

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"You know, your story's not adding up," Sokka said. "First you're saying he's a lightweight, but now you're saying he didn't drink anything. At least get your facts straight—"

"I'm not done telling it, and he just didn't drink to start with. I mean, Li's kind of easy to provoke. Just tease him a bunch and call him scared, and he'll get mad enough to do pretty much anything."

Sokka opened his mouth in rebuttal, paused, and then shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty much true."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

_Three cups in, and Li was plastered. Jet couldn't honestly say that he wasn't at least a little bit tipsy himself, but he was definitely doing better than his companion, he noted as he pulled Li out of the way before the other boy tripped over some costumed kids and started laughing hysterically again. _

"_Oh—oh, god—spirits—I wanna—I need another one!" the scarred boy declared, eerily grinning at Jet before breaking out into another fit of laughter. It was extremely disconcerting seeing Li smile so broadly like that, as opposed to shooting everyone with pointedly dark stares, and Jet decided that he definitely needed another one, too._

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"You are a horrible human being, you know that?"

"You make it a point to remind me everyday."

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

_Jet had been thinking about it. He'd been staring at Li and thinking about it all night. He'd been thinking about it for much longer than just tonight, in fact. Which is why it definitely took his slow-moving brain a second to recognize what was happening when Li leaned over and planted a big one on him. It was wet and sloppy and felt like the black-haired teen was trying to slobber on Jet's face, and part of his mind could only think, "Ewww, gross!", but, thankfully, the larger part of his mind was in charge, and decided to try and kiss back properly. When they finally came up for air, Li started laughing again._

"_I've been con…contimpl—contampl...that since the zoo," he giggled, leaning over again._

_The Freedom Fighter eagerly leaned in for the kiss, as well, and when they separated this time, Jet grinned, too._

"_We should prolly…prolly go somewhere," he said, and they were making out again._

"_Mmhmm," was Li's only response."_

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"So then we went back to my place and did it," Jet finished with a shrug. His cocky grin belied his casual attitude, though.

"Did what?"

"You know…_it_." This time, a blatant leer accompanied his words.

Sokka wanted to punch him. Again. It was always strangely fulfilling, punching Jet in the face. This time, though, he restrained himself.

"You completely took advantage of him!" the watertribesman exclaimed.

"Hey, I was drunk, too!" Jet protested.

"And you would've done exactly the same thing even if you weren't!"

A pregnant pause followed Sokka's statement, as the Freedom Fighter chewed his wheat stalk in contemplation.

"Well, no, probably not _exactly_ the same thing."

Sokka wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, he took a deep, calming breath. "I am going to go back to work," he said. "And I am going to ignore everything that you just told me for the sake of my sanity. And whenever Li does show up, feel lucky if he _doesn't_ decide to try and kill you." And then he got up before Jet could say something to make him more annoyed.

Sokka had completely figured it out, though. Jet's whole problem. There were invisible lines, everyone knew that. Lines that people just shouldn't cross. Jet just didn't understand anything about boundaries. Which is why Sokka still couldn't understand why he had fixated on Zuko of all people. Zuko was all about boundaries. The brown-haired boy had heard a saying once: No man is an island. Zuko did his damndest to prove that saying false—he might've succeeded, actually, if he weren't so dependent on his uncle.

With a sigh, Sokka put those thoughts out of his mind. Somehow, this was all going to turn into his fault. He just knew it.

**TBC…**

Wow, this chapter was a pain in the ass to write. If you guys noticed, I changed my username! It's still me, though. This chapter's fanart is of the Zukka variety. I decided to do older them, because I've been wanting to draw older them since the image got released. Except…I fail at beards, so…

de-chibi. deviantart com / art/So-I-Drew-This-324131411

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review! You can continue to vote if you want.


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